Santa Barbara News-Press: January 02, 2022

On the road with Robert Eringer

Art of 2021

The U.S. and China

Columnist talks about the inspiration for his novels - A4

Here’s a look back at local artists and their creations - B1

Columnist Henry Schulte warns about the threat to American security - C1

Our 166th Year

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Rose Parade Santa Barbara County welcomes first baby of 2022 back after first cancellation since WWII

Mateo Bolanos became the first baby of the new year at 12:39 a.m.

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

The Rose Parade returned to Pasadena on Saturday after its 2020 cancellation, the parade’s first since WWII. Samantha Quart, band director for Santa

Maria High School, marched in the parade with the Saluting America’s Band Directors Project.

This year’s theme was “Dream.

Achieve. Believe.” The parade began at 8 a.m. and LeVar Please see PARADE on A2 Samantha Quart, band director for Santa Maria High School, marched in the Rose Parade with the Saluting America’s Band Directors Project.

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C.A.R.E.4Paws sees record-breaking year

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

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Santa Barbara County’s first baby of the year was Mateo Bolanos, born at 12:39 a.m. to parents Maria Cortes Vargas and Martin Bolanos.

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

Just after the ringing in the New Year, Marian Regional Medical Center welcomed Mateo Bolanos, the first baby of 2022 born in Santa Barbara County.

Mateo was born to Maria Cortes Vargas and Martin Bolanos. He was born just after midnight at 12:39 a.m. weighing five pounds, three ounces and measuring 18.5 inches long. Mateo comes into the world with an eight year old brother.

“We are very happy and grateful that everything turned out well and that the baby is healthy,” said Ms. Cortes Vargas.

Nurses at Marian’s Family Birthing Center gifted the family with a basket filled with goodies and essentials for their new bundle of joy.

The mother and baby are healthy and recovering at Marian. email: kzehnder@newspress.com

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2021 was a record-breaking year for C.A.R.E.4Paws and its commitment to helping pets.

During the year, the Santa Barbara County nonprofit spayed and neutered 2,025 dogs and cats and two bunnies, and helped 17,000 pets receive veterinary care, according to an email sent to supporters and media.

The nonprofit also hosted Pet Wellness walk-in clinics providing 15,000 vaccines, flea treatments, deworming medications, microchips and nail trims.

In addition, C.A.R.E.4Paws distributed two tons of pet food weekly, while also providing critical supplies and temporary foster care as well as grooming for pets of community members experiencing homelessness.

The nonprofit also assisted domestic violence survivors through its Safe Haven program, which provides help with pets so people can leave abusive situations.

The nonprofit also assisted 10,000 dogs and cats with critical wellness services with its mobile clinic in 2021.

“We love knowing that so many four-legged family members receive the care they need to stay healthy and in their homes!” C.A.R.E.4Paws said in its email.

C.A.R.E. 4Paws also promoted compassion for all living beings while working with youth through Paws Up For Pets. “This includes the talented young artists who paint wonderful pieces for our Pet Portrait Project,” the nonprofit said in its email.

“We could not have accomplished all of this without you, our donors, grantors, sponsors, business and nonprofit partners, volunteers and staff,” C.A.R.E.4Paws said.

The nonprofit cited success behind its events such as its Dec. 4 Donation Drive-Thru & Home for the Holidays Adoption Festival at Earl Warren Showgrounds and at the Santa Maria Elks Lodge.

“The community came together in a beautiful way to raise food and funds for pet families in need,” C.A.R.E.4Paws said.

For more about the nonprofit, go to www.care4paws.org.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

SB Maritime Museum invites kids to submit ocean-related art

By KATHERINE ZEHNDER NEWS-PRESS CORRESPONDENT

The Santa Barbara Maritime Museum (SBMM) plans to present an immersive ocean adventure featuring artwork submitted by children in grades K-6, in its next major exhibit Whales Are Superheroes!

The museum is inviting the children to submit their interpretation of a whale, a whale’s activities or anything ocean-related including kelp, starfish, dolphins and other sea creatures. The artwork, which must be done on 8½” x 11” white paper, using only crayons, colored pencils and markers, must be submitted by January 31.

The interactive event “A Whale of a Tale” will feature audio and video components intended to bring children’s artwork to life, and will be on display from April 15-May 15, 2022.

“A Whale of a Tale” and the children’s art exhibit are part of the multi-faceted exhibit, “Whales Are Superheroes!” The exhibit will

explore the effect whales have on the ocean, climate and air quality.

The museum will have a children’s art exhibit; a threedimensional art and sound experience (April 15-May 15, 2022); and “The Wonder of Whales: Two Artists’ Perspectives,” an oceanthemed exhibit of artwork by Kelly Clause and John Baran.

The exhibit will also include a lecture by Holly Lohuis about how whales affect the climate and Santa Barbara’s application to be designated an international Whale Heritage Site as well as a new permanent exhibit on whales and climate change.

Children wishing to submit drawings are encouraged to watch the “Whale of a Tale” video at https://vimeo.com/661045048 for inspiration, then go to sbmm.org for further information about how to format and submit artwork.

Once the art has been submitted, each family will receive a complimentary family pass to the museum. email: kzehnder@newspress.com

The interactive event “A Whale of Tale” is a portion of the Santa Barbara Maritime Museum’s “Whales are Superheroes!” exhibit.

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‘We want to bring some brightness after everything we’ve been through’ is called ‘A Healthier Future,’” reported the LA Times. The float instead featured four children, including one child who was wearing a stethoscope and caring for a teddy bear named Booster, but the float was still featured in the parade.

“We must prioritize the health and safety of our front-line medical staff and ensure we are able to treat patients during this recent surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant,” said Kaiser in a statement.

The 133rd Rose Parade was presented by Honda and the 108th Rose Bowl Game. The 5.5 mile Rose Parade route begins

at the corner of Green Street and Orange Grove Blvd in Pasadena.

The parade proceeds at a relaxed 2.5 mile-per-hour pace along Orange Grove Blvd and turns east on Colorado Blvd which is the major parade viewing route. The parade then turns north on Sierra Madre Blvd and concludes at Villa Street.

“All the planning that we have done has positioned us well to be able to host the Rose Parade in a safe and healthy way,” David Eads, executive director of the Tournament of Roses, told the LA Times.

Brown University study forecasts generation with lower IQs, diminished social skills JUST THE NEWS

The researchers concluded that children “born during the pandemic have significantly reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born pre-pandemic,” with male children in lower socioeconomic families being the most affected. opportunity to explore the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on child health trends in RI, which may reflect broader trends in the US.” In early 2020, public health officials began imposing restrictive policies to limit the spread of the coronavirus. They issued stayat-home orders, requiring the closing of nonessential businesses, daycare centers, schools, and playgrounds, as well as imposed restrictions on other activities.

Lockdown policies helped create fear among parents, who worried about getting sick or losing their jobs, the researchers said. But parents who could work from home did and faced challenges balancing their work and providing full-time care for their children who were also home.

“Not surprising, there has been concern over how these factors, as well as missed educational opportunities and reduced interaction, stimulation, and creative play with other children might impact child neurodevelopment,” the researchers explained.

Using their ongoing longitudinal study of child neurodevelopment, the Brown scientists examined general childhood cognitive scores in 2020 and 2021 compared to the preceding decade, 2011-2019.

They concluded that children “born during the pandemic have significantly

YOLANDA APODACA . . . . . . . . . . . Director of Operations DAVE MASON . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Managing Editor

reduced verbal, motor, and overall cognitive performance compared to children born pre-pandemic,” with male children in lower socioeconomic families being the most affected.

Results also found that “even in the absence of direct SARS-CoV-2 infection and illness, the environmental changes associated with the pandemic are significantly and negatively affecting infant and child development.”

Meaning, healthy children were significantly negatively impacted by public policies that disrupted their cognitive and emotional development.

Professor Carl Heneghan, the Director of Oxford University’s Centre for EvidenceBased Medicine, also published a study that found that “eight out of ten children and adolescents report worsening of behavior or any psychological symptoms or an increase in negative feelings due to the COVID-19 pandemic.”

“School closures contributed to increased anxiety, loneliness and stress; negative feelings due to COVID-19 increased with the duration of school closures,” the study found, with deteriorating mental health reported to be worse among females and older adolescents.

Adolescents above age 12 also fared worse than children under age 12, due to increasing Please see CHILDREN on A3

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(The Center Square) - A growing body of academic research is chronicling the toll that pandemic lockdowns imposed on children, indicating that the mental and social anguish the policies caused outweigh the health protections.

The “overall impact of COVID-19 restrictions on the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents is likely to be severe,” an Oxford University professor warned in a recent analysis.

A study published by Brown University said lockdowns, mandates and other restrictions are likely to create a generation of children with lower IQs and signs of social brain damage.

Other studies have reported increased mental illnesses presenting among minors impacted by ongoing lockdown policies, stress and isolation from their peers, as well as unfounded fears associated with the coronavirus, which killed fewer than 800 of the 73.3 million Americans under the age of 18.

Some of the most compelling findings are based on research of children continuously enrolled in a program in Rhode Island run

by Brown University and its Warren Alpert Medical School since 2009.

Known as the RESONANCE study, researchers and medical professionals have been conducting a longitudinal analysis of child health and neurodevelopment, which is now part of a National Institutes of Health (NIH) program.

The RESONANCE cohort includes roughly 1,600 caregiver-child dyads “who have been continuously enrolled between 0 and 5 years of age since 2009 and have been followed through infancy, childhood, and early adolescence,” the report states. The subjects offer a “unique

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Growing research chronicles toll COVID lockdowns imposed on children

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Burton, actor and television host beloved for his roles on “Reading Rainbow” and “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” was the grand marshall.

This year’s parade featured 43 floats, 20 marching bands and 18 equestrian units, reported the LA Times. Floats from Kaiser Permanente and the UPS Store were featured this year.

The UPS Store float, called “Rise, Shine & Read!” “features a bespectacled, bright yellow rooster named Charlie reading to a group of chicks,” said Michelle Van Slyke, the UPS Store’s senior vice president of marketing. “The float won the parade’s prestigious Sweepstakes award this year.”

This week, as the final decorations were being applied to the float, Ms. Van Slyke said that

This year’s parade featured 43 floats, 20 marching bands and 18 equestrian units.

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“safety is the number one priority” and that “masking and social distancing have been essential.”

The company’s float measured 5 feet tall and 55 feet long and weighed about 24 tons, with 12 moving parts and 130,000 flowers, according to Ms. Van Slyke.

“If you’re going to do it, do it in a way that’s going to be fun and magical,” she said. “We all know we’re in the life’s-too-short category these days, and we want to bring some brightness after everything we’ve been through these last two years … My grandfather would just be ecstatic if he knew I was involved in putting a float together,” Ms. Van Slyke said to the Times.

Kaiser Permanente canceled their plans on Thursday to have front-line medical staffers participate in the Rose Parade.

“Kaiser had planned to have 20 medical workers riding and walking in front of its float, which

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Six-figure job growth ranks Phoenix second among large U.S. metros

By ELIZABETH TROUTMAN THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTER

(The Center Square) – Phoenix has the second highest percentage change in high-paying jobs out of a list of large U.S. metros, according to a Stessa report.

Phoenix saw a 217.1% increase in sixfigure jobs from 2015 to 2020, marking the second-largest percentage increase among the nation’s largest metropolitan areas.

More Phoenix workers made sixfigure salaries in 2020 than the national average. Out of Valley workers,

180,740, or 8.6% of the workforce, made six-figure salaries in 2020, while only 7.9% of workers nationally made $100,000 or more. Only 57,000 workers in the Valley reported salaries of $100,000 or more in 2015. Phoenix’s percentage beats all but two of the study’s 15 largest metros, including first-ranked Nashville.

“We are leading the nation in highwage industry growth, including semiconductors, electric vehicle manufacturing, biosciences, start-ups and more,” Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego’s office told The Center Square.

“Our efforts to accelerate and

Mayor Kate Gallego called Greater Phoenix a “national leader and top relocation destination for families, jobs and businesses.” strengthen the business operating environment in Phoenix and the greater region are reflected in this exciting job growth, a sign of our economic vitality.”

In response to the report, Mayor Gallego called Greater Phoenix a “national leader and top relocation

destination for families, jobs and businesses.”

Phoenix provides residents with more opportunities and a higher quality of life, Mayor Gallego said.

Tucson ranked eighth on the list with a 156.2% percentage change in six-figure jobs between 2015 and 2020.

Maryland ranked 11th most severe in report balancing first-year COVID-19 lockdowns with economic impact

By DAVE FIDLIN THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) – COVID-19 mitigation measures taken in the first 13 months of the pandemic weighed heavily on Maryland’s economy and workforce, a newly released report says.

The independent, nonpartisan think tank Georgia Center for Opportunity ranked Maryland No. 11 in its analysis, “Assessing Each State’s Response to the Pandemic: Understanding the Impact on Employment and Work.”

Georgia Center researchers combed through a range of data, including school and workplace closures, gathering restrictions, capacity limits and stay-at-home orders from March 1, 2020, to March 31, 2021.

A series of technical computations were subsequently taken in each state before the ultimate rank was prescribed.

Georgia Center’s methodology for its government severity index also was based off of a separate study, the Abridged Oxford Stringency Index, from Oxford University in England.

Oxford researchers also placed Maryland at No. 11 in its analysis after examining statewide responses to public event cancellations, school and workplace closings and stay-at-home

Georgia Center’s research found no correlation between government shutdowns and the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations or deaths, suggesting even the most severe actions failed to prevent deaths or hospitalizations linked to the virus. orders.

From the get-go, Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan and others within his administration defended the actions taken as the initial wave of the coronavirus swept through the globe in March 2020.

“Maryland took early, aggressive and unprecedented actions to contain and slow the spread of COVID19,” a statement on a recovery page on Gov. Hogan’s official website read.

“Thanks to these efforts, and the incredible sacrifices of Marylanders who stayed home and practiced physical distancing, we have successfully flattened and lengthened the curve.”

But there are other considerations to take into account in a rearview analysis, Erik Randolph, director of research at Georgia Center, said. He pointed to a correlation between the severity of states’ government actions and short- and long-term economic

impacts, based on the data gleaned across the country.

“The jobs situation would likely be much better today, had some states been less severe with their economic restrictions to fight the public health threat from COVID-19 and its variant,” Mr. Randolph, who was the author of the report, said in a statement.

Conversely, Georgia Center’s research found no correlation between government shutdowns and the rate of COVID-19 hospitalizations or deaths, suggesting even the most severe actions failed to prevent deaths or hospitalizations linked to the virus.

“The results suggest that state and local governments must craft their economic response to the pandemic with greater care, seeking to impact employment less severely,” Mr. Randolph said.

In the government severity index,

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Washington state was ranked No. 1, followed by Hawaii, New York, Colorado and, at No. 5, California.

The five least severe states in the analysis were Nebraska, Iowa, North Dakota, South Dakota and, at No. 50, Ohio.

In a separate narrative analysis from key takeaways within the report, Georgia Center researchers pointed to the perceived value work has on society, which the organization described as “an often overlooked public health indicator.”

“Work has long been a measure of success and personal health for individuals and for communities,” the researchers wrote. “What’s more, the economic impacts of our pandemic-era responses – such as osed businesses and rising inflation indicators – are often most impactful to marginalized communities, including those in poverty and people of color.”

Lockdowns led to increased mental health-related ER visits children

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peer pressure, social pressure, and other issues, the study found.

The report was based on 17 systematic reviews reporting child and adolescent mental health; three of which were preprints.

Researchers reported “anxiety, depression, irritability, boredom, inattention and fear of COVID-19 as predominant new-onset psychological problems in children during the pandemic.”

Lockdown policies and fear over the coronavirus caused “stress, worry, helplessness, as well as social and risky behavioral problems among children and adolescents,” with 13 studies reporting “a negative association between the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on mental health.”

“Stressors for adolescents included the inability to see friends, arguments with parents, unresolvable disputes via social media, academic stress and feelings of isolation,” Dr. Heneghan’s analysis found.

When lockdown restrictions were first imposed last year, mental health-related visits to Emergency Rooms increased by 24 percent in ages 5–11 and by 31 percent in ages 12–17 compared to 2019 data, the CDC reported last year. The data is among several listed in a newly published Pediatric Health, Medicine and Therapeutics journal article that highlights the worsening mental health conditions of children in the U.S. The journal also points to another report, which found that while pediatric emergency department visits for patients of all ages decreased during lockdown policies, pediatric visits for mental health conditions increased from 4% to 5.7%.

Another survey assessed 2,111 participants under age 25 who were diagnosed with psychiatric conditions during lockdown policies.

Among them, 83% said that they experienced a worsening of their condition during the pandemic and 26% said they weren’t able to access support services they needed.

Parents seem acutely aware of the consequences to the children. One survey found that 14% of parents reported worsening of underlying mental disorders among their children under lockdown.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

Here’s why and how I started my Clubhouse on Wheels THE INVESTIGATOR ROBERT ERINGER

M

y first road novel, “Motional Blur,” the result of rolling around seven western states in my Clubhouse on Wheels, was published in 2016 by Skyhorse Publishing in New York City.

A second, “Book Drive,” was published by Bartleby Press last July.

This is the tale — a local story — of how the COW was born and led to road novels.

It started with circumstances that led to me not being involved in an exclusive, private club after the club made things very difficult for me. It wasn’t worth it. In fact, not joining this club set me free.

I found the road to be a great alternative.

People, it is said, only truly come alive outside their comfort zone.

Instead of ensconcing ourselves in a secure cocoon and excluding the outside world, I would create a traveling fellowship of like-minded adventurers beneath a rolling roof that ventured deeply into the outside world.

I would create my own club and clubhouse.

A clubhouse on wheels: Acronymically, COW. This would be the right home for our money — and our free spirit.

It would be about living, not languishing in exclusion. The road to everywhere instead of nowhere.

And out of it evolved road trips and road novels, based on a methodology I soon created.

HOW TO TURN A ROAD TRIP INTO A NOVEL It starts with an idea that kicks around in my mind, giving birth to characters, cultivating a plot.

The late Thom Steinbeck of Montecito once imparted this bit of wisdom on me that he’d been told by his famous father, John, who wrote “Travels with Charley,” arguably the best road book of all time: “You should carry a story in your head, live with it a while before trying to write it down. You should be able to take a lie detector about your story and characters before setting pen to paper.”

Only then, after months of scribbling notes about plot development and characterization, am I ready for the road.

Or so I thought.

I had planned a cross-country jaunt as the setting for my story. However, the day before departure (in late June 2014), I had second thoughts and changed the itinerary.

My reasoning: Driving crosscountry means too much time in a vehicle and not enough in the places that provide the aromas, flavors and sounds I’d want for peppering my prose.

More important, a crosscountry drive is something of a cliché, and I felt that my highly original novel deserved better treatment.

Instead, I carved a new route that took me from my home base in Santa Barbara through Las Vegas, Nevada and into Park City, Utah — a 12-hour drive — for the first overnight.

This establishes motion. The essence of a road trip — and my novel — is motion.

Such motion needs to be conveyed to the reader as if he/she is present, sitting in a car motioning along with the story’s characters, overhearing dialog, enjoying the scenery and witnessing every nuance.

Jack Kerouac’s “On the Road” achieves this with “spontaneous prose” — part of the reason for its enduring success.

For my road trip, I took with me a friend who would partly form the character of my firstperson protagonist. I wanted to see how this individual reacted to outside-the-box situations and unexpected events, reactions that would later become part of the story I wrote.

Now all I needed to do was enjoy the ride; observe; take lots of notes as our journey wove from Utah to Jackson Hole, Wyoming,

RAFAEL MALDONADO / NEWS-PRESS FILE PHOTOS

Robert Eringer’s real-life road trip experiences inspired his books “Motional Blur” and “Book Drive.”

People, it is said, only truly come alive outside their comfort zone. and up to big sky country in Montana before veering southwest and rolling through Idaho, across Oregon and finally alongside the Coastal Redwoods of Northern California.

By the time I got home, I had a journal packed with detail and a mind stimulated by new experiences.

That’s when the fun begins; what the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche called taking all that chaos and birthing it into a dancing star.

I know, from experience, that the time to write arrives when I can’t not write i.e. when a first line, or three, reverberate around my skull until, like a volcano, they erupt from my fingers onto a computer screen. Thereafter the words continue to flow like hot lava.

I write the way I road trip: End a writing session (or overnight somewhere) knowing where I’m heading next, so I will awaken in the morning with direction, excited to continue.

This — the writing — is the fun part. It is where I get to weave a genuine setting with fabricated story, a marriage of journalism and fiction.

Restaurants, and the aroma of indigenous dishes, are woven into my story along with real people encountered along the way. Even random incidents become anecdotal to the plot, a verisimilitude that can never be accomplished by staying home and studying Google maps.

During the road trip, my friend/protagonist got pulled over in Wyoming for speeding after he overtook an unmarked police vehicle. It went into my novel. A piece of jewelry I purchased in Boise became one of the story’s most poignant moments.

While traveling, in real time, I post captioned photos and commentary on my blog, “Clubhouse on Wheels,” named after the vehicle.

I’ve cultivated an audience that follows my road trip blogging, but the real reason I run this blog is so that once my writing erupts I can reference a chronological photo essay to

assist my memory of all that happened.

Although my methodology is based on having a plot and characters in my mind before rolling off anywhere, it can, of course, be done the other way around: Take a road trip and be inspired by all the new stimuli and knowledge you encounter.

At the very least, you bring your senses alive and clear your mind.

At best, you might stumble into the story of your life.

A road trip is a metaphor for living and, better than any other exercise, teaches you that life is about the journey, not the destination.

TRUMP-RUSSIA HOAX We discovered earlier this week that The Investigator bears ultimate responsibility for the Trump-Russia Hoax.

This shocking news — to us, anyway — arrived via a grammatical catastrophe in The Gateway Pundit, described

by Wikipedia as “an American far-right fake news website ”— and has since spread like wildfire to Clause Action Clarion, Pop News, Washington County Auditor, Online Cell, etc.

Our favorite lines: “Eringer had much information on (CIA traitor Edward Lee) Howard, having dined with him in

the past in Russia with the Head of the KGB. “The Russians liked Eringer so much he received an honorary member card to the KGB. “Eringer was also involved in Russia with the FBI at the same time Robert Hanssen (a Russian spy inside the FBI) was providing the Russians damaging information.

“Hanssen gave information to the Russians on multiple spies, some of who were executed.

“Even though Eringer was working for the FBI at the time US human assets outed by Hanssen were executed by Russia, Eringer was saved.

“There may be no one in the Russia collusion fairy tale who knows more about Russia than Eringer.”

We’re not sure whether to feel insulted or complimented.

And we do know at least this much about Russia: Its intelligence services are using social media and fake news sites in the U.S. to exacerbate the great divide that has taken place with a view toward setting the stage for Vladimir Putin’s dream: a second U.S. civil war.

Robert Eringer is a longtime Montecito resident with vast experience in investigative journalism. He welcomes questions and comments at reringer@gmail. com.

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By VICTOR SKINNER THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) – Fifty Pennsylvania counties have joined a historic global opioid settlement that is expected to bring $1 billion to the state to fight the opioid crisis.

The $26 billion settlement involves the nation’s three major pharmaceutical distributors – Cardinal, McKesson and AmerisourceBergen – as well as Johnson & Johnson. The agreement requires industry changes to help prevent a similar crisis in the future, in addition to the funds, Pennsylvania Attorney General Josh Shapiro said.

“Pennsylvania lost 5,172 lives to overdoses in the last year alone, which is 14 Pennsylvanians a day. This settlement is going to provide resources to jumpstart programs that will change lives and impact families across our commonwealth who are struggling to find treatment and help for those struggling with substance abuse,” Mr. Shapiro said. “These funds will be earmarked to offer and expand life-saving treatment options, prioritizing the areas that have been most affected by this crisis.”

Mr. Shapiro said the state is expected to receive up to $232 million in 2022, distributed to local governments that signed on to the settlement. Local officials ultimately will decide how to spend the money, though it all must go toward approved opioid remediation uses outlined in the agreement. Those uses include the purchase of Naloxone or other FDA-approved drugs to reverse opioid overdoses, medication-assisted treatments, treatment and recovery services for pregnant and postpartum women, treatment for neonatal abstinence syndrome, expanded services and on-call teams for hospital emergency departments, treatments for the incarcerated, syringe service programs and other prevention programs.

Fifty of Pennsylvania’s 67 counties have joined the settlement so far, while the remaining 17 counties and multiple subdivisions have until next month to decide. Counties that currently are part of the agreement include: Adams, Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Berks, Bradford, Bucks, Butler, Cambria, Cameron, Carbon, Chester, Clarion,

Clearfield, Clinton, Dauphin, Delaware, Elk, Erie, Fayette, Franklin, Greene, Huntingdon, Indiana, Jefferson, Juniata, Lackawanna, Lancaster, Lawrence, Lebanon, Luzerne, McKean, Mercer, Mifflin, Monroe, Montgomery, Montour, Perry, Potter, Schuylkill, Snyder, Susquehanna, Tioga, Union, Warren, Washington, Wayne, Westmoreland and York.

Mr. Shaprio is urging counties that have not yet joined the settlement to do so without delay.

“Continuing litigation is incredibly risky, as we’ve seen in Oklahoma where a $465 million judgement was overturned by the state Supreme Court after being on appeal for years, and in California where a number of counties and cities lost their case after seven years in court,” he said. “We can’t afford to wait – we need these funds flowing into our communities now. We know no dollar amount will bring back all that we have lost, but this settlement will give communities the money to save lives now.”

Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald explained why his county ultimately decided to join the settlement.

“When the county filed its lawsuit in May 2018, we sought two things: to keep these and other similar companies from engaging in the acts and practices that led to the opioid crisis, and to be able to provide additional resources to the communities and families I our county who have been most impacted by their actions,” he said. “The settlement agreement reached by Attorney General Shapiro and several other states provides for significant industry changes, and up to $1 billion that Pennsylvania is set to receive.

We want our residents to benefit from that agreement and have resources available to them now and intend to sign on.”

Kevin Madden, member of the Substance Treatment and Overdose Prevention Coalition and Delaware County councilman, echoed the same sentiments.

“While no money could ever truly account for the lives that opioids have ruined, these settlement funds to be received over the next decade and beyond will allow the county to educate its citizens and help remediate the scourge of opioid abuse and the devastation it causes for thousands of residents and their loved ones,” Mr. Madden said.

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PUBLIC NOTICES

By NYAMEKYE DANIEL THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – Three Georgia laws go into effect at the start of the new year that impact juvenile justice, sales tax on vehicles and medical transactions.

House Bill 63 changes the way the fair market value of a vehicle is estimated. The value of a car will be calculated as the total depreciation, lease amortized amounts and down payments.

Fair market value is how much a vehicle is worth for sale. The new bill excludes interest or finance charges in base or down payments.

Senate Bill 80 is aimed at improving medical billing transparency. It requires insurers to disclose their prior authorization policies online.

The prior authorization process calls for health care providers to contact the insurer before providing a particular service to

ensure it would be covered under a patient’s plan. It adds another layer of health care approval that critics said could prolong care.

Senate Bill 28 overhauls juvenile laws to increase protections for children who have been neglected, abused or are in foster care. It changes the state’s legal meaning of “sexual exploitation” by removing the reference “prostitution” as a crime and replacing it with “sexual servitude.” It also gives juvenile court intake officers more authority to make decisions about a child’s intake or welfare status. It changes the training requirements for juvenile court intake officers from eight hours a year to an initial training requirement of eight hours, with two hours required every year after.

The bill is part of Gov. Brian Kemp’s agenda to improve the state’s foster care system and reduce human trafficking.

PUBLIC NOTICES NOTICE TO CONTRACTORS NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN THAT THE SANTA BARBARA COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT of Santa Barbara County, California, acting by and through its Governing Board, hereinafter referred to as the District, will receive up to, but not later than 1:00 p.m. on January 27, 2022, sealed bids for the award of a contract for construction for the following project (“Project”): Business Communications Center, BC313 Classroom Renovation - Bid #769 All bids shall be made on a bid form furnished by the District.

Bids shall be received in the Purchasing Office (Bldg. ECC-42) located at Santa Barbara City College, 721 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, California, and shall be opened and publicly read aloud at the above stated time and place. Each bid must conform and be responsive to the contract documents, copies of which are now on file and available online at: http://www.sbccplanroom. com. Documents may be obtained through at Tri-Co Reprographics, located at 720 Haley St, Santa Barbara, California. Questions regarding the availability and cost for download and/or printing of documents may be directed to Sarah Silva at Lundgren Management (661) 257 1805 or Tri-Co Reprographics (805) 966-1701.

A non-mandatory pre-bid conference and job walk will be held at the Project site, located at 721 Cliff Drive, Santa Barbara, CA, 93103, at 10:00 a.m. on January 11, 2022. Job Walk will commence from the BC Front Entrance Patio. Parking is available in lot 4C, permit required. Prospective bidders attending the non-mandatory job walk and pre-bid conference must wear face masks and adhere to physical distancing requirements.

The Deadline for questions is January 19, 2022, by 1:00 p.m. All questions are to be addressed to Lundgren Management (wilfredo.celedon@lundgren.net; sarah.silva@lundgren.net), utilizing the Pre-Bid RFI form provided in the contract documents. Questions and responses will be issued back to all plan holders by way of Addendum.

Each bid shall be accompanied by the security referred to in the contract documents and by the list of proposed subcontractors. No bidder may withdraw his bid check for a period of sixty (60) days after the date set for the opening of bids. A California State Contractor’s License B is required to bid on and perform the work required.

The District reserves the right to reject any or all bids or to waive any irregularities or informalities in any bids or in the bidding.

Pursuant to Santa Barbara City College’s Covid-19 immunization resolution, which was passed by the Board of Trustees on August 5, 2021, all Contractor employees, partners, subcontractors, and vendors who work or provide services at Santa Barbara City College are required to provide verification that they have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19 when entering an SBCC building or must have otherwise obtained an approved Covid-19 immunization exemption. Further, all Contractor employees, partners, subcontractors, and vendors coming onto an SBCC property must wear face coverings in indoor settings, except when eating or drinking, and must adhere to social distance requirements in accordance with CDC recommendations.

If awarded this contract, Contractor acknowledges that it will be required to comply, and will comply, with campus COVID-19 policy and with all applicable campus health and safety practices. *Fully vaccinated means that a person either has the first dose of a one-dose regimen or their second dose of a two-dose regimen.

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 1773 and 1773.2 of the Labor Code of the State of California, the Santa Barbara Community College District has obtained from the Director of Industrial Relations, the general prevailing rate of per diem wages and the general prevailing rate for holiday and overtime work in the locality in which the work is to be performed for each craft, classification or type of workman needed to execute the contract with a copy of the same being on file at the office of the Vice President of Business Services, Santa Barbara Community College District.

It shall be mandatory upon the Contractor to whom the contract is awarded, and upon any subcontractor under him, to pay not less than the said specified rates to all workmen employed by them in the execution of the contract.

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 1771.1 of the Labor Code of the State of California, a contractor or subcontractor shall not be qualified to bid or engage in the performance of any contract for this project unless; (1) currently registered and qualified to perform public work pursuant to Section 1725.5; or (2) expressly authorized to submit a bid by Section 1771.1 and provided the contractor is registered to perform public work pursuant to section 1725.5 at the time the contract is awarded.

This project is subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the Department of Industrial Relations. The successful bidder will be required to post all job-site notices required by DIR regulations and other applicable law. ___________________________________________________ Rob Morales Director – Facilities & Operations Santa Barbara Community College District Santa Barbara County, California JAN 2, 9 2022 -- 57816

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PUBLIC NOTICES

PUBLIC NOTICE Air Quality Regulatory Measures that May Be Adopted or Amended in 2022 State law (Health and Safety Code Section 40923) requires the Santa Barbara County Air Pollution Control District (District) to publish a list of regulatory measures scheduled for consideration each year. These regulatory measures, or rules and regulations, are adopted in order to reduce air pollution in Santa Barbara County. Air quality rules and regulations that may be adopted or amended during 2022 are listed below. Other measures may be proposed for adoption per the criteria specified in Section 40923 of the Health and Safety Code. Before the adoption or amendment of any regulatory measure, the District publishes a notice in a local newspaper and holds a public hearing to accept comments from affected businesses and other interested parties.

The following rules are tentatively proposed to be adopted or amended in 2022: Rule 316 333 358 363

Title Storage and Transfer of Gasoline Control of Emissions from Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines Stationary Gas Turbines Particulate Matter (PM) Control Devices

Notice Inviting Bids CONSTRUCTION OF NEW ADA ELEVATOR, EXTERIOR PLAZA, AND LOWER LEVEL STAFF AREA Bid No. 4065 1. Bid Submission. The City of Santa Barbara (“City”) will accept electronic bids for its Central Library construction of an ADA Elevator and, renovation of the existing plaza and lower level staffing area Project (“Project”), by or before February 9, 2022, at 3:00 p.m., through its PlanetBids portal. Bidders must be registered on the City of Santa Barbara’s PlanetBids portal in order to submit a Bid proposal and to receive addendum notifications. Each bidder is responsible for making certain that its Bid Proposal is actually submitted/uploaded with sufficient time to be received by PlanetBids prior to the bid opening date and time. Large files may take more time to be submitted/ uploaded to PlanetBids, so plan accordingly. The receiving time on the PlanetBids server will be the governing time for acceptability of bids. Telegraphic, telephonic, hardcopy, and facsimile bids will not be accepted.

If any Addendum issued by the City is not acknowledged online by the Bidder, the PlanetBids System will prevent the Bidder from submitting a Bid Proposal. Bidders are responsible for obtaining all addenda from the City’s PlanetBids portal.

Bid results and awards will be available on PlanetBids.

2. Project Information.

The following rules are included in case adoption or amendment is needed during 2022: Rule 102 201 202 210 312 321 323.1 341 351 354 362 401 809 810 901 1002 1303

Title Definitions Permits Required Exemptions to Rule 201 Fees Open Fires Solvent Cleaning Machines and Solvent Cleaning Architectural Coatings Municipal Solid Waste Landfills Surface Coating of Wood Products Graphic Arts Nitrogen Oxides (NOx) from Miscellaneous Combustion Sources Agricultural and Prescribed Burning Federal Minor Source New Source Review Federal Prevention of Significant Deterioration New Source Performance Standards (NSPS) Asbestos Removal, Renovation, and Demolition Part 70 Operating Permits – Permits

If you would like to check on the status of a rule, please visit the District’s website at www.ourair.org/rules-and-regs/. For more information, contact Tim Mitro at (805) 961-8883.

Published Sunday, January 2, 2022, SBNP -- 57808

Registrar of Voters Santa Barbara County Statewide Direct Primary Election to be held on June 7, 2022

NOTICE IS HERE BY GIVEN BY JOSEPH E. HOLLAND, COUNTY CLERK, RECORDER AND ASSESSOR & REGISTRAR OF VOTERS OF THE COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA, STATE OF CALIFORNIA, OF THE FILING PERIODS FOR OFFICES IN WHICH CANDIDATES ARE TO BE VOTED ON AT THE STATEWIDE DIRECT PRIMARY TO BE HELD ON JUNE 7, 2022.

JUDGE OF THE SUPERIOR COURT OFFICES (NON-PARTISAN) Petitions in Lieu of Filing Fee Filing Period (Jan. 3 – Feb. 9, 2022): Period in which candidates may obtain, circulate and file their petitions in lieu of a filing fee.

New Georgia laws address juvenile justice, sales tax on vehicles, medical transactions

A5

SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

Declaration of Intention Filing Period (Jan. 31 – Feb. 9, 2022): Candidates for Judge of the Superior Court office must file a written and signed declaration of intention. The filing fee for candidates filing a declaration of intention must be paid at the time the declaration of intention is filed.

Declaration of Intention Extension Filing Period (Feb. 10 – Feb. 14, 2022): If an eligible incumbent does not file a declaration of intention by the deadline, the deadline for filing the declaration of intention for that office is extended for non-incumbent candidates only.

Declaration of Candidacy & Nomination Papers Filing Period (Feb. 14 – March 11, 2022): Candidates must also file a declaration of candidacy and nomination papers to qualify for office.

VOTER-NOMINATED AND NON-PARTISAN OFFICES Federal, State, and Countywide Offices Petitions in Lieu of Filing Fee Filing Period (Jan. 3 – Feb. 9, 2022): Period in which candidates for federal, state, and countywide office may obtain, circulate and file their petitions in lieu of a filing fee.

County Supervisor Petitions in Lieu of Filing Fee Filing Period (Jan. 13 – Feb. 9, 2022): Period in which candidates for County Supervisor may obtain, circulate and file their petitions in lieu of a filing fee.

Declaration of Candidacy & Nomination Papers Filing Period (Feb. 14 – March 11, 2022): Candidates must file a declaration of candidacy and nomination papers to qualify for office.

Declaration of Candidacy & Nomination Papers Extension Filing Period (Feb. 14 – March 11, 2022): If an eligible incumbent does not file a declaration of candidacy by the deadline, the deadline for filing the declaration of candidacy for that office is extended for non-incumbent candidates only.

APPOINTMENTS FOR CANDIDATE FILING Santa Barbara Elections Main Office: Appointments are required for candidate filing at this location. Appointments are available 8:30 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. To schedule an appointment online visit https://candidatefiling.as.me/SantaBarbaraOffice or call (805) 696-8957.

Santa Maria Elections Branch Office: Appointments are required for candidate filing at this location. Appointments are available 8:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. and 1:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, excluding holidays. Appointments must be made 48 hours in advance to ensure staff availability at this office location. To schedule an appointment online visit https://candidatefiling. as.me/SantaMariaOffice or call (805) 346-8374. Please note that during the Candidate Filing Period this office location will not be open to the general public.

Lompoc Elections Branch Office: Candidate Filing will not be available.

2.1 Location and Description. The projects are located at 40 E Anapamu St, Santa Barbara, and is described as follows: Manage construction of three separately permitted plans and specifications which are identified per the following: ADA Elevator (BLD2020-02554): Construct hoistway and new ADA compliant 3-stop elevator for path of travel continuity from main entry level to upper and lower levels of the Central Library facility. Replace upper level stair and balcony guardrail system at atrium.

Plaza Renovation (BLD2020-02249): Renovate existing exterior Library Plaza including new ADA accessible pathways, new landscape and hardscape, irrigation, handrails, sitewalls, and lighting.

Lower Level Renovation (BLD2021-01067): Renovate the lower level staffing area including new conference rooms, raised ceiling, kitchen area, flooring, and lighting.

All areas of construction will include temporary safety barricades and dust containment barriers as required to isolate and secure work areas from the public during construction.

2.2 Time for Final Completion. The Project must be fully completed within 254 calendar days from the start date set forth in the Notice to Proceed. City anticipates that the Work will begin on or about April 20, 2022, but the anticipated start date is provided solely for convenience and is neither certain nor binding.

2.3 Estimated Cost. The estimated construction cost is $8,870,880.

3. License and Registration Requirements.

3.1 License. This Project requires a valid California contractor’s license for the following classification(s): Class B 3.2 DIR Registration. City may not accept a Bid Proposal from or enter into the Contract with a bidder, without proof that the bidder is registered with the California Department of Industrial Relations (“DIR”) to perform public work pursuant to Labor Code § 1725.5, subject to limited legal exceptions.

4. Contract Documents. The plans, specifications, bid forms and contract documents for the Project, and any addenda thereto (“Contract Documents”) may be downloaded from City’s website at: http://www.planetbids.com/portal/portal.cfm?CompanyID=29959 5. Bid Security. The Bid Proposal must be accompanied by bid security of ten percent of the maximum bid amount, in the form of a cashier’s or certified check made payable to City, or a bid bond executed by a surety licensed to do business in the State of California on the Bid Bond form included with the Contract Documents. The bid security must guarantee that within ten days after City issues the Notice of Award, the successful bidder will execute the Contract and submit the payment and performance bonds, insurance certificates and endorsements, and any other submittals required by the Contract Documents and as specified in the Notice of Award.

6. Prevailing Wage Requirements.

6.1 General. Pursuant to California Labor Code § 1720 et seq., this Project is subject to the prevailing wage requirements applicable to the locality in which the Work is to be performed for each craft, classification or type of worker needed to perform the Work, including employer payments for health and welfare, pension, vacation, apprenticeship and similar purposes.

6.2 Rates. These prevailing rates are on file with the City and are available online at http://www. dir.ca.gov/DLSR. Each Contractor and Subcontractor must pay no less than the specified rates to all workers employed to work on the Project. The schedule of per diem wages is based upon a working day of eight hours. The rate for holiday and overtime work must be at least time and one-half.

6.3 Compliance. The Contract will be subject to compliance monitoring and enforcement by the DIR, under Labor Code § 1771.4.

7. Performance and Payment Bonds. The successful bidder will be required to provide performance and payment bonds, each for 100% of the Contract Price, as further specified in the Contract Documents.

8. Substitution of Securities. Substitution of appropriate securities in lieu of retention amounts from progress payments is permitted under Public Contract Code § 22300.

9. Subcontractor List. Each Subcontractor must be registered with the DIR to perform work on public projects. Each bidder must submit a completed Subcontractor List form with its Bid Proposal, including the name, location of the place of business, California contractor license number, DIR registration number, and percentage of the Work to be performed (based on the base bid price) for each Subcontractor that will perform Work or service or fabricate or install Work for the prime contractor in excess of one-half of 1% of the bid price, using the Subcontractor List form included with the Contract Documents.

10. Instructions to Bidders. All bidders should carefully review the Instructions to Bidders for more detailed information before submitting a Bid Proposal. The definitions provided in Article 1 of the General Conditions apply to all of the Contract Documents, as defined therein, including this Notice Inviting Bids.

11. Bidders’ Conference. A bidders’ conference will be held on January 24, 2022 at 1:00 p.m., at the following location: 40 E Anapamu Street, Santa Barbara, CA. to acquaint all prospective bidders with the Contract Documents and the Worksite. The bidders’ conference is mandatory. A bidder who fails to attend the mandatory bidders’ conference without prior notification, may be disqualified from bidding.

12. Retention. The percentage of retention that will be withheld from progress payments is 5%.

QUALIFICATIONS FOR OFFICE Please contact the County Elections Office at 1 (800) SBC-VOTE or (805) 568-2200 or visit our website at www.sbcvote.com for more information on the qualifications required for voter-nominated and nonpartisan offices.

Signed and dated this 22nd day of December, 2021.

13. Community Workforce Agreement. A community workforce agreement (also known as a project labor agreement) entitled “Community Workforce Agreement” by and between the City of Santa Barbara and the Tri Counties Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO and Signatory Craft Councils and Unions” covers the Work of this Contract. The successful bidder and all its subcontractors of whatever tier whose work is subject to the community workforce agreement will be required to execute a letter of assent to accept and be bound to the terms and conditions of the community workforce agreement.

14. Specific Brands. Pursuant to referenced provision(s) of Public Contract Code § 3400(c), City has found that specific brands are required for this project. See the attached Special Conditions for a list of particular material(s), product(s), thing(s), or service(s). No substitutions will be considered or accepted for the listed items.

/S/ JOSEPH E. HOLLAND County Clerk, Recorder, and Assessor Registrar of Voters

By: ___________________________________ (Publish Jan. 1 & 2, 2022)

Date: ________________

William Hornung, General Services Manager

Si desea información en español por favor comuníquese con la Oficina Electoral al (805) 568-2200.

JAN 1, 2 / 2022 -- 57814

Publication Dates: 1) 12/26/2021

2) 1/2/2022 DEC 26 / 2021; JAN 2 / 2022 -- 57815

A6

NEWS

SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

Police reform among new North Indiana life insurance CEO says deaths are up 40% among people ages 18-64 Carolina laws in new year

By NYAMEKYE DANIEL THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – More than a dozen new laws and provisions go into effect with the ringing in of the new year in North Carolina, including laws meant to increase law enforcement training and public transparency and deregulate alcohol.

Under Senate Bill 473, any public official who knowingly participates in the approval of a contract for a nonprofit they are affiliated with could be charged with a misdemeanor, starting Saturday. Other portions of the bill meant to increase government transparency already are law.

Most of House Bill 436, which is meant to increase police oversight, requires new mental health and wellness training and psychological screenings for law enforcement officers. Officers also will be educated on maintaining good mental health and mental health resources.

Senate Bill 300 also takes effect Saturday. It requires FBI criminal background checks for officers and creates an “early warning” system to track and document use-of-force incidents.

Officials would be required to create a public database of officers facing suspensions and revocations. Starting Saturday, immediate family members will be able to see video footage within three business days after a serious police incident

that results in death or serious injury after a request to the courts.

North Carolinians permanently can get mixed drinks delivered under a provision that takes effect Saturday. It directs local Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) boards to offer delivery services to businesses that have mixed beverage permits. The ABC boards are allowed to charge the permittees a fee. Also taking effect is House Bill 890, which implements rules that will stop the ABC Commission from giving preferential treatment to certain local boards.

Other laws that go into effect at the beginning of the year include: • Senate Bill103: Increases the penalty for behavioral analysts practicing without a license.

• House Bill 734: Directs the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services to launch a campaign to help protect people with mental health disorders from unlicensed mental health facilities.

• House Bill 160: Changes service purchase requirements for state employee pension systems.

• House Bill 489: Changes requirements for general contractor licenses.

• House Bill 685: Requires loan companies to disclose third-party fees that borrowers will be required to pay.

Virginia car insurance, other laws take effect

By TYLER ARNOLD THE CENTER SQUARE

(The Center Square) – A series of new Virginia laws go into effect in the new year, including changes to required car insurance coverage.

Beginning in January, car insurance companies will be required to provide $30,000 in coverage for injury or death to one person and $60,000 in coverage for injury or death to two or more people. This will be an increase of $5,000 worth of coverage for one person and an increase of $10,000 of

coverage for two or more people. The property damage coverage will remain at $20,000.

This legislation is part of an incremental increase in required coverage. The mandatory coverage will increase again in 2025 to $50,000 for one person and $100,000 for two or more people, which doubles the current requirements. In 2025, the property damage coverage will also increase, but only to $25,000.

Another new law prohibits cosmetic testing on animals

and bans the sale of any product for which animal testing was used. Violations are subject to penalties up to $5,000 and an additional $1,000 for every day the violation continues.

Some changes to election laws will also go into effect: all municipal elections for local government and school boards will take place in November, in line with most other elections. This will prevent local elections in May, which some localities currently do.

By MARGARET MENGE

THE CENTER SQUARE CONTRIBUTOR

(The Center Square) – The head of Indianapolis-based insurance company OneAmerica said the death rate is up a stunning 40% from pre-pandemic levels among working-age people.

“We are seeing, right now, the highest death rates we have seen in the history of this business – not just at OneAmerica,” the company’s CEO Scott Davison said during an online news conference this week. “The data is consistent across every player in that business.”

OneAmerica is a $100 billion insurance company that has had its headquarters in Indianapolis since 1877. The company has approximately 2,400 employees and sells life insurance, including group life insurance to employers in the state.

Mr. Davison said the increase in deaths represents “huge, huge numbers,” and that’s it’s not elderly people who are dying, but “primarily working-age people 18 to 64” who are the employees of companies that have group life insurance plans through OneAmerica.

“And what we saw just in third quarter, we’re seeing it continue into fourth quarter, is that death rates are up 40% over what they were pre-pandemic,” he said.

“Just to give you an idea of how bad that is, a three-sigma or a onein-200-year catastrophe would be 10% increase over pre-pandemic,” he said. “So 40% is just unheard of.”

Mr. Davison was one of several business leaders who spoke during the virtual news conference on Dec. 30 that was organized by the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

Most of the claims for deaths being filed are not classified as COVID-19 deaths, Mr. Davison said.

“What the data is showing to us is that the deaths that are being reported as COVID deaths greatly understate the actual death losses among working-age people from the pandemic. It may not all be COVID on their death certificate, but deaths are up just huge, huge numbers.”

He said at the same time, the company is seeing an “uptick” in disability claims, saying at first it was short-term disability claims, and now the increase is in longterm disability claims.

“For OneAmerica, we expect the costs of this are going to be well over $100 million, and this is our smallest business. So it’s having a huge impact on that,” he said.

He said the costs will be passed on to employers purchasing group life insurance policies, who will have to pay higher premiums.

The CDC weekly death counts, which reflect the information on death certificates and so have a lag of up to eight weeks or longer, show that for the week ending Nov. 6, there were far fewer deaths from COVID-19 in Indiana compared to a year ago – 195 verses 336 – but more deaths from other causes – 1,350 versus 1,319.

These deaths were for people of all ages, however, while the information referenced

by Davison was for workingage people who are employees of businesses with group life insurance policies.

At the same news conference where Mr. Davison spoke, Brian Tabor, the president of the Indiana Hospital Association, said that hospitals across the

LOCAL FIVE-DAY FORECAST TODAY

MONDAY

INLAND

It is with deep sorrow that we announce the death of Placido Frank La Macchia (Santa Barbara, California), who passed away on December 19, 2021, at the age of 86.

Sharon was born on February 21, 1948, in Ukiah, Calif.

When she was four, she and her family moved to the “Gold country,” Sonora, Ca., which she adored. When she was ten, the family moved to Merced, Ca., which she didn’t adore. While at Merced High School, she was a cheerleader and played the clarinet in the school marching band. She attended the newly opened UC Santa Cruz. When Santa Cruz proved too wet and rainy, she transferred to UCSB in 1968, where she received her B.A. in Social-Psychology in 1970.

May 7, 1935 - December 19, 2021 (86 years old)

Born and raised in Ogdensburg, New York, he was the son of the late Frank and Marie La Rue La Macchia.

As a high school student at Ogdensburg Free Academy, Placido “Pat” excelled in many sports including track, football and baseball. He loved to travel the United States and abroad and looked forward to yearly family reunions in Ogdensburg, New York.

He joined the United States Air Force and retired after serving honorably for 22 years DW WKH UDQN RI 6HQLRU 0DVWHU 6HUJHDQW :KLOH VHUYLQJ KH ZDV FHUWLÀHG LQ QXPHURXV ÀHOGV RI H[SHUWLVH DQG KH FRQVLVWHQWO\ H[FHHGHG H[SHFWDWLRQV DQG H[KLELWHG H[HPSODU\ leadership qualities.

After his retirement from the Air Force, he owned and operated The Mole Hole gift shop for over 20 years in Solvang, California.

Besides his parents, Placido was predeceased by his wife Theresa Barnes La Macchia LQ 7RJHWKHU WKH\ ZHUH WKH SDUHQWV RI ÀYH FKLOGUHQ Also, he was predeceased by his second wife, Bonnie Braund La Macchia who passed away in 1993. His sister Judith La Macchia passed away in 2001 and his brother-in-law Harry Bentley in 2021.

He is survived by: his daughters, Gina Mateas (Ronald), Angela Prentice (Edward), Jayni Goodpaster, Jacki Kane (Russell); his son, Frank La Macchia; stepchildren, Mark Carpenter (Karen) and Wendy Carpenter; ten grandchildren; seven greatgrandchildren; sisters, Jo Ann King (Larry), Sharon Bentley and many cousins, nieces, nephews and friends.

Friends and family always described Placido as a funny, quick witted and generous man.

Services will be held at Calvary Cemetery, January 5, 2022 at 11:00 AM. In memory of Placido a kind word or an act of kindness would be appreciated.

MEDINA, Cecelia T. (Lara) May 18, 1942 – December 14, 2021

In the early morning hours of December 14, 2021, Cecelia T. Medina, while holding her daughter’s hand, peacefully began her journey home to our Lord.

Born and raised in Santa Barbara to Mary and Manuel Lara, Cecelia attended local schools and was a proud 1960 graduate of Santa Barbara High School (“Once a Don, Always a Don”).

Following graduation, Cecelia moved to Los Angeles, CA, moving back to Santa Barbara in 1966, where she began employment at Raytheon Company. After a brief hiatus from work to raise her children to school age, she returned to work in 1975, when she began her career with the State of California. During her 28 years with the State, Cecelia worked for both the Departments of Rehabilitation and Justice, retiring in 2003 from the Department of Rehabilitation.

Not one to be idle, Cecelia joined local charitable and service organizations where she made lifelong friends.

Cecelia was a member of Native Daughters of the Golden West, Tierra de Oro, Parlor #304, the Santa Barbara Little Garden Club and Catholic Daughters of the Americas, Court #293. As a member of CDA Court #293, Cecelia KHOG WKH RIÀFHV RI )LQDQFLDO 6HFUHWDU\ DQG PRVW UHFHQWO\ 9LFH 5HJHQW &'$ DQG WKH CDA sisters held a very special place in Cecelia’s heart as they helped guide her in the UHDIÀUPDWLRQ RI KHU &DWKROLF IDLWK DQG OLIH RI VHUYLFH Cecelia enjoyed crocheting, gardening, crossword puzzles, listening to music (mostly the Beatles and Hawaiian tunes), watching classic movies, attending live concerts and plays, and was an avid Dodgers and Raiders fan. Cecelia loved Maui, HI, visiting as often as she was able. Her greatest joy came from gatherings with family and friends; she was famous for her delicious macaroni and potato salads.

Cecelia was preceded in death by her parents, Mary and Manuel Lara; brothers, Richard, Henry, and Joseph Lara and sisters, Lillian Bossé and Mary Andrade. Cecelia is survived by her daughter, Christine, of Santa Barbara and son, Paul, of San Diego. &HFHOLD DOVR OHDYHV EHKLQG KHU EURWKHU )UDQN %HWW\ RI 9HQWXUD VLVWHU 7KHUHVD &XQQLQJKDP RI 9DQ 1X\V VHYHUDO QLHFHV QHSKHZV DQG KHU EHORYHG FDW &KORH

On November 25, 2021, Sharon Murov Major suddenly passed away, at home, of natural causes.

In 1968, on a magical Fall Day outside of UBSB’s Campbell Hall, she met her future husband, Mike, who, when he regained his senses, realized he just met the woman he had been looking for his entire life. They were married in July 1969. Sharon and Mike started a family in 1972 when they adopted two infant children: a son, Solomon, in 1972, and their daughter, Graham, in 1976. Both graduated from Santa Barbara High,(Go Dons!), and later UCSB (Go Gauchos)!

Sharon was an amazing woman with many talents; should have had a “W” on her chest for “Wonder Woman.” She had a soothing singing voice with a slight country twang that wasn’t in her normal diction. A kitchen magician, who could master any style of cuisine and her interest in food eventually led to her becoming the dining reviewer for the Montecito Magazine and The Independent. In turn, this led her to publishing The Major Guide, a well-received quarterly dining guide for the Santa Barbara area.

Then, in 1988, she was back on the UCSB campus as the Public Relations Director for the UCSB Art Museum, a job she cherished. She delighted in working with the museum staff, Art History and Art Studio departments, the donors, her beloved students, and her primary focus, the visiting artists and their exhibits. She treasured the students.

She thought America was in good hands because of the quality of “kids” she met on campus. She brought a new approach to her job publicist, where she energized the university arts community by attracting people from outside the University, integrated a vast array of campus resources, such as Drama, Music, Dance, ROTC, etc., and, with the generous assistance from the UCSB administration, turned the arrival of a new exhibit into an event. These events became known as “galas.”

One memorable event was the arrival of internationally established artist Kenji Yanobe, and his futuristic, robotics installations. The event was held at night, on the quad between Storke tower and the UCEN with hundreds of people, including Chancellor Yang and his wife Dilling, in attendance. The sit-down dinner was catered by the always professional Faculty Club staff. At the appointed moment, suddenly, all the lights went out with the only light being a powerful spotlight aimed at Storke Tower.

Music from the theme from Mission Impossible began blaring from loud-speakers. And long, thick ropes were hurled from the bell tower, down which rappelled UCSB ROTC students to a massive cheer.

6KDURQ UHOXFWDQWO\ KDG WR UHWLUH IURP WKH $UW 0XVHXP LQ KDYLQJ EHFRPH DIÁLFWHG with crippling, neuropathic pain. She bravely fought that pain with enough courage to fuel the 3rd Marine Division. She was a mighty-mite in a 120-lb. package.

Sharon was born with a smile on her face and she had a reservoir of joy that she displayed in a beguiling, disarming way. She was an unabashed square, who’s favorite T.V. shows were on the Hallmark channels. She was a quiet feminist, who’s favorite causes were any kind of rescue animal and disabled American veterans. Possessed of an uncanny moral compass, Sharon always knew what was right and wrong, proper and improper. These were handy tools that were needed for working with the sometimes eccentric, sometimes prickly, but always endearing members of the Art World. Headturning gorgeous on the outside, equally matched by the beauty inside.

Sharon was preceded in death by her parents, Morton and Ada Murov. She is survived by her beloved husband, Michael Major, her son, Solomon Major, her daughter Graham Brown (nee Major), Sharon’s grandchildren, Max and Bella Brown, and Sharon’s older brother, Ronald Murov and spouse Debbie, and numerous loving cousins, (her tribe), who collectively are the sweetest, kindest group ever assembled. To those closest to Sharon, it always felt like a privilege to be in their company.

To those closest to her, Sharon’s sudden passing has left a wretched, aching void of PLVHU\ 6ZHHW 6KDURQ D ÀQDO JRRG E\H

Obituary notices are published daily in the Santa Barbara News-Press and also appear on our website www.newspress.com To place an obituary, please email the text and photo(s) to obits@newspress.com or fax text only (no photos) to (805) 966-1421. Please include your name, address, contact phone number and the date(s) you would like the obituary to be published. Photos should be in jpeg format with at least 200 dpi. If a digital photo is not available, a picture may be brought into our office for scanning. We will lay out the obituary using our standard format. A formatted proof of the obituary and the cost will be emailed back for review and approval.

The minimum obituary cost to print one time is $150.00 for up to 1.5” in length -- includes 1 photo and up to 12 lines of text, approximately 630 characters; up to approximately 930 characters without a photo. Add $60.00 for each additional inch or partial inch after the first 1.5”; up to approximately 700 characters per additional inch.

A Rosary will be recited at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church, 21 E. Sola Street. A Funeral Mass will be held on Wednesday, January 5, at 10:00 a.m. at Our Lady of Sorrows Catholic Church. Interment will follow at Calvary Cemetery. Arrangements handled by Welch-Ryce-Haider Funeral Chapels.

All Obituaries must be reviewed, approved, and prepaid by deadline. We accept all major credit cards by phone; check or cash payments may be brought into our office located at 715 Anacapa Street.

Cecelia will be deeply missed by all who knew her and will forever live in the hearts of those who loved her. You were the wind beneath our wings. Until we meet again...

Free Death Notices must be directly emailed by the mortuary to our newsroom at news@newspress.com. The News-Press cannot accept Death Notices from individuals.

The deadline for Tuesday through Friday’s editions is 10 a.m. on the previous day; Saturday, Sunday and Monday’s editions all deadline at 12-noon on Thursday (Pacific Time).

WEDNESDAY THURSDAY

Times of clouds and sun

Cloudy INLAND

Mostly sunny

INLAND

INLAND

58 31

57 38

61 42

66 45

67 43

58 38

57 42

62 44

66 46

63 45

COASTAL

MAJOR, Sharon Murov

TUESDAY

Mostly sunny and Cool with periods cool of sun INLAND

LA MACCHIA, Placido Frank

state are being flooded with patients “with many different conditions,” saying “unfortunately, the average Hoosiers’ health has declined during the pandemic.”

In a follow-up call, he said he did not have a breakdown showing why so many people in the state are being hospitalized – for what conditions or ailments. But he said the extraordinarily high death rate quoted by Davison matched what hospitals in the state are seeing.

“What it confirmed for me is it bore out what we’re seeing on the front end,...” he said.

The number of hospitalizations in the state is now higher than before the COVID-19 vaccine was introduced a year ago, and in fact is higher than it’s been in the past five years, Dr. Lindsay Weaver, Indiana’s chief medical officer, said at a news conference with Gov. Eric Holcomb on Wednesday.

Just 8.9% of ICU beds are available at hospitals in the state, a low for the year, and lower than at any time during the pandemic.

But the majority of ICU beds are not taken up by COVID-19 patients – just 37% are, while 54% of the ICU beds are being occupied by people with other illnesses or conditions.

The state’s online dashboard shows that the moving average of daily deaths from COVID-19 is less than half of what it was a year ago. At the pandemic’s peak a year ago, 125 people died on one day – on Dec. 29, 2020. In the last three months, the highest number of deaths in one day was 58, on Dec. 13.

COASTAL

Pismo Beach 58/40

COASTAL

COASTAL

COASTAL

Shown is today's weather. Temperatures are today's highs and tonight's lows.

Maricopa 55/37

Guadalupe 60/38

Santa Maria 60/37

Vandenberg 59/42

New Cuyama 56/28 Ventucopa 54/30

Los Alamos 59/33

Lompoc 59/39 Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2022

Buellton 57/32

Solvang 57/32

Gaviota 56/42

SANTA BARBARA 58/38 Goleta 57/37

Carpinteria 57/40 Ventura 58/41

AIR QUALITY KEY Good Moderate

Source: airnow.gov Unhealthy for SG Very Unhealthy Unhealthy Not Available

ALMANAC

Santa Barbara through 6 p.m. yesterday

TEMPERATURE High/low Normal high/low Record high Record low

59/34 64/41 73 in 1969 25 in 1976

PRECIPITATION 24 hours through 6 p.m. yest.

Month to date (normal) Season to date (normal)

0.00” 0.00” (0.14”) 8.83” (5.05”)

City Cuyama Goleta Lompoc Pismo Beach Santa Maria Santa Ynez Vandenberg Ventura

STATE CITIES Bakersfield Barstow Big Bear Bishop Catalina Concord Escondido Eureka Fresno Los Angeles Mammoth Lakes Modesto Monterey Napa Oakland Ojai Oxnard Palm Springs Pasadena Paso Robles Sacramento San Diego San Francisco San Jose San Luis Obispo Santa Monica Tahoe Valley

55/34/pc 51/26/pc 40/20/pc 46/18/s 54/44/s 50/41/pc 63/34/s 50/48/pc 54/36/pc 61/41/s 36/21/pc 52/35/pc 58/45/s 50/44/pc 52/45/s 57/35/s 60/40/s 60/40/s 60/40/s 57/33/s 50/37/pc 62/42/s 52/47/s 56/43/s 60/39/s 59/38/s 38/22/pc

Mon. Hi/Lo/W 54/34/pc 60/43/pc 57/42/pc 58/45/pc 57/41/pc 57/38/pc 57/45/pc 54/44/pc

67/35/r 47/24/r 22/5/pc 40/25/s 41/18/s 46/30/s 84/69/pc 3/0/pc 56/29/r 63/32/r 59/37/s 45/40/c 25/11/pc 28/17/s 42/36/r 66/36/r

POINT ARENA TO POINT PINOS

Wind east-northeast 4-8 knots today. Waves 2 feet or less with a south-southwest swell 1-3 feet at 14 seconds. Visibility clear.

POINT CONCEPTION TO MEXICO

Wind east-northeast 4-8 knots today. Waves 2 feet or less with a south-southwest swell 1-3 feet at 14 seconds. Visibility clear.

SANTA BARBARA HARBOR TIDES Date Time High Time Jan. 2 Jan. 3 Jan. 4

8:21 a.m.

10:25 p.m.

9:08 a.m.

11:13 p.m.

9:56 a.m. none

7.1’ 3.8’ 7.0’ 3.9’ 6.7’

Low

1:56 a.m.

3:49 p.m.

2:47 a.m.

4:36 p.m.

3:40 a.m.

5:22 p.m.

LAKE LEVELS

2.2’ -1.9’ 2.2’ -1.9’ 2.2’ -1.6’

AT BRADBURY DAM, LAKE CACHUMA 55/39/c 54/32/pc 44/24/pc 46/24/pc 53/46/pc 54/51/sh 61/37/s 55/49/r 53/39/c 59/42/pc 35/26/c 54/44/pc 59/49/c 53/53/sh 55/50/sh 57/41/pc 56/42/pc 64/42/s 60/41/pc 57/37/pc 52/47/c 59/44/pc 56/52/c 58/50/c 60/42/pc 58/42/pc 37/29/c

NATIONAL CITIES Atlanta Boston Chicago Dallas Denver Houston Miami Minneapolis New York City Philadelphia Phoenix Portland, Ore. St. Louis Salt Lake City Seattle Washington, D.C.

Wind east-southeast at 4-8 knots today. Wind waves 2 feet or less with a southwest swell 1-3 feet at 14-second intervals. Visibility clear.

TIDES

LOCAL TEMPS Today Hi/Lo/W 56/28/s 57/37/s 60/37/s 58/40/s 60/37/s 58/31/s 59/42/s 58/41/s

MARINE FORECAST

SANTA BARBARA CHANNEL

49/33/s 30/20/pc 22/19/s 51/33/pc 49/26/pc 53/39/pc 79/64/pc 26/15/s 33/26/pc 38/26/pc 61/39/s 44/37/r 36/25/s 36/28/pc 41/33/r 41/26/sn

At Lake Cachuma’s maximum level at the point at which water starts spilling over the dam holds 188,030 acre-feet. An acre-foot is 325,851 gallons, equivalent to the amount of water consumed annually by 10 people in an urban environment.

Storage 93,138 acre-ft.

Elevation 712.12 ft.

Evaporation (past 24 hours) 1.0 acre-ft.

Inflow 62.3 acre-ft.

State inflow 8.1 acre-ft.

Storage change from yest. +0 acre-ft.

Report from U.S. Bureau of Reclamation

SUN AND MOON Sunrise Sunset Moonrise Moonset

New

First

Jan 2

Jan 9

WORLD CITIES

Today 7:06 a.m.

5:01 p.m.

7:16 a.m.

5:03 p.m.

Full

Jan 17

Mon. 7:06 a.m.

5:02 p.m.

8:17 a.m.

6:15 p.m.

Last

Jan 25

Today Mon. City Hi/Lo/W Hi/Lo/W Beijing 35/12/pc 42/12/pc Berlin 53/45/r 49/41/sh Cairo 65/55/c 67/54/pc Cancun 86/67/s 81/68/pc London 54/47/r 52/44/c Mexico City 74/41/s 71/44/s Montreal 19/2/sn 15/8/s New Delhi 67/46/pc 69/48/pc Paris 58/50/c 54/50/c Rio de Janeiro 84/75/t 85/75/c Rome 57/47/sh 58/50/c Sydney 82/71/s 79/71/pc Tokyo 46/37/pc 47/38/pc W-weather, s-sunny, pc-partly cloudy, c-cloudy, sh-showers, t-thunderstorms, r-rain, sf-snow flurries, sn-snow, i-ice.

PAGE

B1

Managing Editor Dave Mason dmason@newspress.com

Life

INSIDE

Barton Goldsmith talks about how to beat COVID-19 and the flu - B3

S U N DAY, J A N UA RY 2 , 2 0 2 2

YEAR IN REVIEW

The art of A

2021

rt flourished at galleries and events in 2021 in Santa Barbara County, and the News-Press was there to get the story behind the art and the

artists.

Here are the highlights, with references to NewsPress stories that remain at newspress.com. Staff writer Marilyn McMahon wrote most of the original articles.

— Dave Mason

COURTESY PHOTO

Mara Abboud created “Majestic,” a limited-edition, indoor tile wall mural that measures 25½ inches square. She spoke about her colorful career in July at the Santa Barbara Club. See the story at newspress.com/artists-journey.

COURTESY PHOTO

Artist Sophia Beccue created the abstract exhibit “Beauty Out of Ashes,” which was on display last summer at the Architectural Foundation of Santa Barbara Gallery. The exhibit showed how the local artist coped during the past two years while living with cancer and the pandemic. The story is at newspress.com/beauty-out-of-ashes.

SHANA MOULTON

Shana Moulton created “Whispering Pines 10,” which is part of the 2019 video in her multimedia exhibit. Her art was on display last summer at the Museum of Contemporary Art Santa Barbara. The story is at newspress.com/surreal-scenarios.

COURTESY PHOTO PHOTO BY FRANK NEIMEIR, COURTESY ALAN ROSS

COURTESY PHOTO

Alan Ross, left, assists acclaimed photographer Ansel Adams with a camera in 1977. “Sharing the Light: Ansel Adams and Alan Ross” is an exhibit on display through March 20 at the Wildling Museum of Art & Nature in Solvang. To see the story on this, go to newspress.com/ sharing-the-light. At right, renowned sculptor Christopher Statoff served as the guest artist and jurist at the 11th annual SLOPOKE Art of the West Exhibition 7 Sale in September in Solvang. See the stories at newspress.com/art-of-the-west and newspress.com/slopoke-art-showset-for-sept-24-26.

Lynda Weinman stands with her 6-foot tall ceramic cactus. After she and her husband Bruce Heavin sold their company, lynda.com, in 2015, she decided to renew her passion for pottery. Her art went on display last summer at The Clay Studio in Goleta. See the story at newspress.com/ceramic-artist.

Please see ART on B4

B2

PUZZLES

SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

JUMBLE PUZZLE

No. 1226

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/$*,2( (4,188 +1$6,% 1(&&6, 5203,7

53 Words before point or rate 1 They might be put on 54 Ring 5 Singer Grande, informally 56 Hold, as inhabitants 8 Undercover attire?

58 Med school subj.

60 Certain Scandinavian 11 ____ Creole (Caribbean 61 ‘‘The One I Love’’ language) band 18 Drive-____ 62 ____ Hall (‘‘The Wind in the Willows’’ 19 Certain urban map residence) 22 Demoralize 63 Loud but friendly 23 Little tyke growl 25 Flatter, with ‘‘up’’ 64 Bow 26 Things bachelors 65 Adjusts the spacing might have between, as typed 27 Certain Scandinavian letters 28 ‘‘Gimme ____!’’ (start 67 No ____ (apartment of a cheer at three policy) Big Ten schools) 70 Big name in cast-iron 29 Noted Dadaist cookware 31 ____ Helmer, Ibsen 72 Reduce in volume heroine 74 As new 32 Scalpel creations 76 It’ll knock you out 34 Relative of a tee-hee 78 Ogler 38 Bit of marginalia 79 Chiwere speakers 41 M.L.K. or R.B.G.: 80 Christmas ornament, Abbr. often 43 Stage name of rapper 82 Modern prefix with Yasiin Bey medicine 44 Forest spirit 83 Becomes less taut 45 Pep 86 Old ‘‘Up, up and 47 Onesie feature away’’ sloganeer 87 Mannheim madame 49 ‘‘Sure, I’m game’’ 88 Fivers 51 UNICEF address suffix 89 Kind of leaf 52 H.S. subj.

92 Scientist born on Christmas Day in Online subscriptions: Today’s 1642 puzzle and more 94 With 117-Down, than 4,000 past puzzles, nytimes.com/crosswords cholesterol reducer ($39.95 a year).

95 Musician Brian ACROSS

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SEASON TO TASTE

BY LAURA TAYLOR KINNEL / EDITED BY WILL SHORTZ

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1/2/2022

Laura Taylor Kinnel is a math teacher and the director of studies at a Friends boarding school in Newtown, Pa. This is her fifth crossword for The Times. Last New Year’s Eve, when Laura got together with some wordplay-loving friends via Zoom, she gave them words from a working version of this puzzle, for which some of the celebrants suggested clues. I wonder if they’ll remember any of them now. — W.S.

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

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96 Paris’s ____ SaintLouis 97 ____ Finch, ‘‘ER’’ doctor 98 Possible result of getting one’s wires crossed 99 Moola 101 Singer/actress Shore 103 Big block 106 Two-time U.S. Open tennis champion while still a teen 107 Breakfast dish 109 Fruitcake tidbit 112 Amasses, with ‘‘up’’ 114 Nuclear-medicine units 115 ‘‘____, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus’’ 116 ____ culpa 118 Trig function 119 Some laundromat machines 122 This puzzle’s images, in two different ways 127 Physician awarded a Presidential Medal of Freedom by G. W. Bush 128 Party staple 129 Prefix with space 130 Chandelier part, often 131 ____-mo 132 Football units: Abbr.

133 Hurdle for a J.D. wannabe DOWN

1 Court sport grp.

2 Course preparers

3 Becoming faint 4 Solarium activity 5 National dance co.

6 It was eliminated from the U.S. in 2004 7 Library IDs 8 Kitty 9 Project 10 Outback orders 11 Cabinet dept. since 1965 12 Come to ____ 13 Fit 14 Nightmare 15 ‘‘Got it’’ 16 ‘‘____ Maria’’ 17 Super Mario Bros. platform 20 Downfall 21 Dropped the ball 24 Remove, as a ribbon 30 Green shampoo 33 Italian thoroughfare 35 Wishy-washy response 36 Get, slangily 37 Genuine 39 Filmmaker von Trier 40 Little lead 42 Some graffiti 45 First and reverse 46 Not learned 47 Proverb-spouting Panza 48 Lancaster-toScranton dir.

50 Citrus hybrid 54 Come to ____ 55 Present opening?

SOLUTION ON D3

Horoscope.com Sunday, January 2, 2022 ARIES — Get back into the emotional work you’ve been doing over the summer when Jupiter enters Pisces on Tuesday. The planet of luck enters your subconscious zone, ushering you into a period of spiritual healing over the next few months.

TAURUS — Get ready to be social when Jupiter enters Pisces and your friendship zone on Tuesday. This next year you’ll have plenty of opportunities to make new friends and socialize. Things that you’ve been working toward could happen as if by magic.

GEMINI — The year 2022 can bring major career opportunities your way when Jupiter enters Pisces and your career zone on Tuesday, helping you with some of your more ambitious goals—as long as you give back in the process. Do some volunteer work to bring good karma (and good PR) into your life, Gemini.

CANCER — Your year ends on an optimistic note when Jupiter enters Pisces on Tuesday, moving through your expansion zone for most of 2022.

You’re ready to tackle the new year with adventure and hope.

LEO — The end of the year ushers in a period of spiritual development when Jupiter enters Pisces on Tuesday.

The planet of luck moves into your transformation zone, changing your life both spiritually and financially, even bringing the possibility of a rebirth because you’ll be extra sensitive.

VIRGO — The new year brings different levels of commitment for you when Jupiter enters Pisces and your partnership zone on Tuesday. Any relationship that isn’t working out at the end of 2021 will come to a close, making room for better, more fulfilling partnerships in your career and romantic life LIBRA — Positive changes are coming your way in 2022 when it comes to your health and your work as Jupiter enters Pisces and your habit zone on Tuesday. A lot of improvements are coming into your life, Libra, making you feel great as you start the journey to your dream self.

SCORPIO — The year 2022 is going to be a year of joy and pleasure for you, Scorpio. That’s because Jupiter enters Pisces on Tuesday, moving through your pleasure zone for most of the new year. This is a great time to explore your passions with confidence because you can be lucky in romance and creativity.

SAGITTARIUS — As the adventurer of the zodiac, Sag, you might be surprised by how close you’ll stick to home in 2022.

Instead of planning trips, you might plan to buy a house when Jupiter enters Pisces on Tuesday.

CAPRICORN — The new year brings some big ideas and new skills to help you in your endeavors when Jupiter enters Pisces on Tuesday. Jupiter will be in your communication zone for most of 2022, making your mind extra sharp as you gain new skills and social connections that can help you get what you want with ease.

AQUARIUS — A new year brings new opportunities for you, Aquarius, especially with your finances. On Tuesday, Jupiter enters Pisces and your value zone, where it will stay for most of 2022. During this transit, you might gain money in the form of a raise, new job, or other earning opportunities.

PISCES — On Tuesday Jupiter enters your sign, where it will stay for most of the new year. Jupiter shines its magnetic light on you, bringing new opportunities and experiences as well as overcoming the issues that have been plaguing you.

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How to play Codeword Codeword is a fun game with simple rules, and a great test of your knowledge of the English language.

Every number in the codeword grid is ‘code’ for a letter of the alphabet. Thus the number 2 may correspond to the letter L, for instance.

All puzzles come with a few letters to start you off. Your first move should be to enter these letters in the puzzle grid. If the letter S is in the box at the bottom of the page underneath the number 2, your first move should be to find all cells numbered 2 in the grid and enter the letter S. Cross the letter S off the list at the bottom of the grid. Remember that at the end you should have a different letter of the alphabet in each of the numbered boxes 1 - 26, and a word in English in each of the horizontal and vertical runs on the codeword grid.

BRIDGE PUZZLE

By FRANK STEWART Tribune Content Agency

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

10 ways to outsmart COVID-19 and the flu

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’m not a medical doctor (nor do I play one on TV), but it doesn’t take a Harvard educated M.D. to know that we’re looking ahead at another difficult “illness” season.

So I thought it would be good to remind ourselves of some of the everyday tactics I have learned from some great physicians and scientists to help keep us all physically healthy.

Here are 10 ways to outsmart COVID-19 and the flu.

• Get the shots. COVID and the flu are here to stay, and this is our best method of protection. Yes, there can be some (mostly mild) reactions, and they hurt a little. But I’d rather get a jab than get sick.

I have now had my booster and plan on getting them every six to eight months as recommended. I will also get my annual flu vaccine and a few others as well, and I haven’t grown horns and a tail.

• Wash your hands often.

This means after you shake hands or handle money, before you prepare food, anytime you leave a bathroom and every time before you eat. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, washing your hands is your No. 1 defense against contracting an illness. Use soap and wash for at least 20 seconds and wash up to your elbows.

Also: Use hand sanitizer. It’s one of the best inventions of all time, but there are some germs it won’t kill, so when you’re visiting someone in a hospital or with a compromised immune system, be very liberal with it. The trick is to rub it into your hands for at least 20 seconds and do your wrists too.

• Avoid people who are ill. My clients know I’m a germ freak. We agree that as part of our relationship, we will let each other know if either of us has something that could possibly be contagious, so we can take appropriate precautions or change our meeting time. I also have a good air purifier in my office, and I leave a window open.

• Don’t touch your face. And don’t let other people touch your face (which is nearly impossible if you have little kids). So, revisit the first tip. Many people don’t realize how many times they let germ-ridden hands (including their own) touch their face, which is a red-carpet entrance for all kinds of disease. Just make sure to carry some tissue so that when your nose itches you don’t have to use your

hands.

• Stay warm. They call it a cold for a reason. Many people fail to realize they are actually feeling chilled or do anything about it for sometimes several hours. By that time, your immune system has been compromised. I always carry a down vest for extra warmth, and the manufacturer packs it up so small you can put one in your purse or pocket.

• Get more rest. It’s a simple tip but one seldom used. During the flu/COVID season, try to get into bed just a few minutes earlier and let yourself take a nap on a rainy weekend day. This plague has stressed all of us to our breaking point, so you’ve earned the downtime.

• Eat right. A balanced diet strengthens your immune system.

Also eating several small meals throughout the day, rather than three large ones, helps keep your energy level high. These days it’s very easy to find healthy food alternatives. Give it a try if you haven’t yet.

• Continue to exercise. The jury is in: Exercise will help keep you healthy. Walking is my main form

of exercise, and on cold days I find it hard to get out the door… so I got a treadmill. Also, many large indoor shopping malls open up early just for walkers and runners.

• Take your vitamins. You may not believe in them or don’t want to spend the money, but do some research and talk to your doctor and see what he or she recommends. Some will work better for you than others so do some research. People just feel better when they take their vitamins.

Most of this is just common sense, and you’ve heard it before, but I haven’t had the flu in years, and I won’t take the chance of getting COVID, so I’ll use these tips to keep it that way.

Being physically ill has a profound effect on your emotional wellbeing not to mention your body. Take the extra time to keep healthy and you’ll be happier too.

Follow these 10 ways to outsmart COVID-19 and the flu and go enjoy your life.

Barton Goldsmith, Ph.D., is an award-winning therapist and humanitarian. He is also a columnist, the author of seven books and a blogger for PsychologyToday. com with nearly 27 million readers. Reach him at barton@ bartongoldsmith.com.

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The lights dance on the water in this recent view of Santa Barbara from Stearns Wharf.

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SOLUTION TO YESTERDAY’S PUZZLE Solutions, tips program at

INSTRUCTIONS Fill the grid so every row, every column and every 3-by-3 grid contains the digits 1 through 9.

That means that no number is repeated in any row, column or box.

Sudoku puzzles appear on the Diversions page Monday-Saturday and on the crossword solutions © Puzzles by Pappocom page in Sunday’s Life section. www.sudoku.com

Local animal shelters and their nonprofit partners are looking for homes for pets.

For more information, go to these websites: • Animal Services-Lompoc, countyofsb.org/phd/animal/home. sbc.

• Animal Shelter Assistance Program in Goleta, asapcats.org.

ASAP is kitty corner to Santa Barbara County Animal Services.

• Bunnies Urgently Needing

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Shelter in Goleta, bunssb.org.

BUNS is based at Santa Barbara County Animal Services.

• Companion Animal Placement Assistance, lompoccapa.org and facebook. com/capaoflompoc. CAPA works regularly with Animal ServicesLompoc.

• K-9 Placement & Assistance League, k-9pals.org. K-9 PALS works regularly with Santa Barbara County Animal Services.

• Santa Barbara County Animal Care Foundation, sbcanimalcare. org. (The foundation works regularly with the Santa Maria Animal Center.)

• Santa Barbara County Animal Services in Goleta: countyofsb. org/phd/animal/home.sbc.

• Santa Barbara Humane (with campuses in Goleta and Santa Maria), sbhumane.org.

• Santa Maria Animal Center, countyofsb.org/phd/animal/home.

sbc. The center is part of Santa Barbara County Animal Services.

• Santa Ynez Valley Humane Society/DAWG in Buellton, syvhumane.org.

• Shadow’s Fund (a pet sanctuary in Lompoc), shadowsfund.org.

• Volunteers for Inter-Valley Animals in Lompoc: vivashelter. org.

— Dave Mason

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Porsche Santa Barbara

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Toyota of Santa Barbara 5611 Hollister Ave. Goleta

(805) 967-5611 www.toyota-sb.com

To Advertise in the Automotive Dealer Directory call 805-564-5230!

B4

NEWS

SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

ART

Continued from Page B1

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Certificate C250A (ID: C250E; PA: C250Q); Insurance Policy P150 (GA: P150GA; NY: P150NY; OK: P150OK; TN: P150TN). Rider kinds: B438, B439 (GA: B439B).

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SUSAN MARIE REYES

Susan Marie Reyes, a Santa Barbara singer, songwriter and artist, painted this acrylic work called “Lying on Clouds.” For the story on her “Beauty and Sorrow” exhibit in Carpinteria, see newspress.com/beauty-and-sorrow.

Call by May 31 for your FREE consultation.

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imported parts.

ASSISTED LIVING

MEMORY CARE

INDEPENDENT LIVING

HOME CARE

COURTESY PHOTO

LIZABETH MADAL

At left, Federico Jimenez, an authority on Mexican silver, pre-Columbian and Mixtec jewelry, created this piece of jewelry. He signed his book, “Federico One Man’s Remarkable Journey from Tututepec” in 2021 at Peregrine Galleries in Montecito. The story is at newspress.com/ vintage-festivities. At right, versatile Santa Barbara artist Lizabeth Madal, who says her art reflects her “lifetime of coastal living,” painted “Coastal Eucalyptus.” See the story on her at newspress.com/versatile-artist.

Alice Find the right senior living option for your mom or dad with our personalized process A Place for Mom simplifies the process of finding senior living at no cost to your family. Our service is free, as we’re paid by our participating communities and providers.

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South Coast Youth Band Beginners welcome!

Come join the band!

Open to all students in 4th-6th grades Program starts January 25, 2022 For more information contact us at: Website: sbefoundation.org/sou e-mail: scyband@gmail.com Facebook:

Program supported by the Santa Barbara Education Foundation

Website: RANDALL DAVID TIPTON

Randall David Tipton painted “A New Season,” a watermedia work that measures 26 by 20 inches. It’s part of the “Variations” exhibit that was on display last summer at the Marcia Burtt Gallery in Santa Barbara. See the story at newspress.com/marcia-burtt-gallery-presents-variations.

PAGE

C1

voices@newspress.com

Voices SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

GUEST OPINION

IDEAS & COMMENTARY

ANDY CALDWELL: When truth is no longer self-evident/ C2

SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

DID YOU KNOW? Bonnie Donovan

Let’s keep people accountable in 2022 “You cannot escape the responsibility of tomorrow by evading it today.”

— Abraham Lincoln

W

COURTESY IMAGE

Happy New Year and thank you, China

I

t’s been two years and the massive influx of more bodies counting. Our president and human trafficking; there is continues to harp about an even greater drug crisis that getting the vaccination and continues to be ignored. forcing more mandates to China gifted us the turmoil punish those who are we’re facing today. China resisting because he brought it to the world claims to care. However, and Dr. Anthony Fauci his tunnel vision and and others in our own single-mindedness is country may have had a very misguided and hand in making it worse. should be focusing on a But place the blame different kind of vaccine where it belongs, it was elsewhere.

China that caused the Henry How long can Joe Biden death of so many of our Schulte and his sycophants hide citizens. China (directly behind the curtain? The or indirectly) managed The author open border is a national to recruit/persuade the lives in Solvang Democrats to work in security crisis and has bloomed into the most tandem to bring down immediate serious problem facing American businesses. China and America today. The injustice to the Democrats caused hundreds Americans trying to follow the of thousands of children to lose rules while lawbreakers can nearly two years of getting a ignore them is bad enough, but proper education. China and there’s more. her American friends found the Put aside all the obvious perfect weapon to divide us from impacts the open border is within and further accelerate the creating for Americans regarding destruction of our way of life.

T

China didn’t launch a single longer prosecute.” rocket or fire one bullet, but Like so many things this it managed to accelerate the administration has done, my dismantling of our culture nearly mind can’t wrap around the lack immediately after Biden took of concern over the increasing office. deaths and devastation of human With our southern border lives and families. How the now wide open, administration China launched and the media, another weapon working hand to speed up the in hand, Center Square columnist William destruction of completely the U.S., fentanyl. Haupt blames China for supply ignore those chain problems in the U.S. and It’s beyond murders comprehension but are wants Congress to pass the National that we deal with determined to Manufacturing Guard Act. C3.

China in any go after nurses, way (I recognize firefighters and the complexity) the military while it facilitates the deaths of who don’t want the vaccine, and a 100,000 Americans a year to now the booster, is insanely overdose. It’s not even a secret that insane. You want to scream but no China provides the ingredients to one will hear you. the Mexican cartels to make this I’m not sure what role America most lethal of drugs. will play in the Olympics, but I President Biden laid out the red think giving China any credibility carpet with an implied sign saying for anything, is a slap across our “No one is going to stop you from faces. I feel for the athletes if murdering our citizens. We no America didn’t attend but there’s

MORE INSIDE

so much wrong with China and what they’ve done and continue to do is unforgivable, yet we continue aid and abet them. I had heard that China is holding a million Americans in prison. I tried to confirm this, but more and more search engines are hiding information.

Regardless, no matter how many they have imprisoned, we’d be holding fun and games down the street while fellow Americans are rotting along with a good chance they’re being or have been tortured.

Who or what’s it going to take for someone or something to step up and fix this atrocity?

Liberal politicians, whether using the virus or defending the criminals instead of the victims are determined to undermine the country. “Follow the science.” “It’s the data.” I’m so sick of hearing that. Everything we’ve been told has been wrong. The Pfizer Please see SCHULTE on C4

Lessons we learned from 2021

he last year has pretty much been a dumpster fire, and I’m glad to see it go. God only knows what 2022 holds, but the past year has provided some invaluable lessons we can — and must — use, to wrest control of America from those who would destroy her.

No. 1: On many important issues, the media deliberately lies or disseminates inexcusably false information.

President Donald Trump did not “collude” with Russia. COVID did not emerge in a wet market. The COVID shots do not prevent anyone from catching or transmitting the virus. Ivermectin is not just veterinary medicine.

The border isn’t secure.

Higher prices aren’t the result of companies “gouging” customers.

Kyle Rittenhouse did not shoot three black men.

We did not evacuate all Americans in Afghanistan before

the disastrous military pullout. efficacy and risks of these shots is The Jan. 6 mobs at the Capitol unclear, incomplete and evolving. last year were not part of an It is medically, scientifically and “insurrection.” The Virginia ethically untenable to insist upon gubernatorial election was not a one-size-fits-all manner of about white supremacy. Parents treatment for 330 million vastly at school board meetings are not different individuals. “domestic terrorists.”

Even some of the President Joe Biden is not most ardent advocates Laura in excellent health. (How for COVID shots are Hollis many presidents routinely beginning to acknowledge speak from a fake Oval The author is that it is nonsensical Office?) and dangerous to keep a syndicated The national media insisting on more shots columnist is either professionally every time the virus deceitful or completely mutates. incompetent, or both. They cannot No. 3: Government propaganda be trusted. turns ordinary people into little No. 2: Sweeping mandates tyrants. like those proposed by the The COVID hysteria peddled Biden administration are by the government (not to mention unconstitutional. inconsistent information), aided The federal government has and abetted by broadcast, print no right to force people to inject and social media, has created a experimental chemicals and gene perpetual sense of panic in some “therapies” into their bodies. of the population. In addition to The “science” (if by that we mean lockdowns, business closures, accurate information) about the travel bans, mask mandates and

vaccine passports, we must endure even executed. those who behave horribly to If you want to know how to anyone who isn’t wearing a mask or create a nation full of Nazis, there’s vaccinated.

Exhibit A. Recently former actress and No. 4: It’s time for a transgender Playboy model Patricia Cornwall category for sports competitions. was removed from a Delta flight Lia Thomas, the biological after she swore at, slapped and male who swam for the University spit on an 80-year-old man who of Pennsylvania mens’ team, was unmasked while transitioned and now eating. (This incident, swims on the women’s James Buckley like countless others, team. Lia Thomas has is taking the week off was captured on shattered records, video and posted on causing outrage among social media.) Former some defenders of Planned Parenthood President women’s sports.

Dr. Leana Wen has said that USA Swimming official Cynthia unvaccinated people should be Millen resigned in protest. Ms. confined to their homes.

Millen said, “Men are different CNN anchor Anderson Cooper from women, men swimmers are discussed with Microsoft founder different from women, and they Bill Gates the possibility of will always be faster than women. depriving them of their Social Boys will always have larger lung Security payments. It’s not capacity, larger hearts, greater uncommon to see irate statements circulation, a bigger skeleton, and on social media, insisting that less fat ... no matter how much those who opt not to get the COVID Please see HOLLIS on C4 shots should be incarcerated or

ith the New Year ushering in a new era of city government, we look back to the price the city has paid for a lack of consequences in so many areas that have disturbed those who know and love the city and her unique attributes.

On the local news last week, a reporter interviewed an out of towner standing on State Street, under an umbrella in the pouring rain.

When asked if he was having a good time, he said that he didn’t care about the rain, that Santa Barbara is so great, there is no place like it. If he and others like him only knew how hard it is to maintain what makes that statement so true.

And part of what makes it so hard, is the lack of accountability. No one wants to hold anyone accountable for anything. Because it’s hard.

But what’s harder? Watching your beautiful city devolve into something nondescript and unrecognizable.

It is not just Santa Barbara that suffers from this condition.

As Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Arkansas, said, “There’s no federal solution, but the fed government can help by securing the border, approving safe treatments and tests, and appointing competent leaders at the FDA and CDC.” However, he added, “Biden opened the border, botched testing and outsourced CDC’s guidance to the teachers’ unions.”

Where are the consequences for not fulfilling the job description? Why aren’t people terminated and why are contracts renewed when the contract is not performed as promised?

Locally, we keep asking why City Net and SB ACT are not being held accountable with documented results for the problem that creates the most havoc for our city: The homeless.

The importing of the transients to Santa Barbara continues to be ignored. We have said this before: We can make no progress with this situation if an endless stream of homeless are allowed and encouraged to be housed in Santa Barbara. And then the current city government with their “partners” builds housing for them blocks from the beach in the most desirable and expensive real estate in the world.

As soon to be ex-Mayor Cathy Murrillo and Councilmember Oscar Gutierrez lamented during the discussion of SB 9 for a high fire zone: “Low-income people should be able to live on the Riviera too.” That really takes the cake.

Because of the contract with the city to abate the transient problem, on Feb 2, 2021, City Net and SB ACT walked the neighborhood to assess the transient issues at the waterfront. They requested the neighbors show them where the transients and their encampments were The group walked from Pershing Park, the historical Amtrak Station at 209 State St. They continued on the train tracks from 209 State St., behind Miratti’s at 200 State St. and up to the hole in the fence to the rear of the car wash at 220 W. Montecito St. When the neighbors tried to usher City Net and SB ACT further west on the railroad tracks to the rear of 315 Bath St., City Net and SB ACT refused because, “that doesn’t look safe.” Basically, this actually Please see DONOVAN on C4

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SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

VOICES

SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

LETTERS TO THE NEWS-PRESS Here’s why rent control won’t work

I Wendy McCaw Arthur von Wiesenberger

Co-Publisher Co-Publisher

GUEST OPINION

When truth is no longer self-evident

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or many in front of you is to be called years, I have ‘he.’ Diversity and inclusion offered psychic means excluding those predictions for who object to ideological the new year uniformity (the cancel in a similar vein as the culture). Equity means best supermarket tabloids. treating persons unequally, However, this year I must regardless of their skills and take a break, a psychiatric achievements … ” break that is, because the Hence, a nation founded on world we are living in is losing the cornerstone of “we hold its perspective on truth and these truths to be self-evident” reality. are succumbing to living a lie Milton Friedman predicted that serves as an affront to that if you put the common sense. government in Speaking of lies, charge of the Sahara let us consider desert, in five years our withdrawal we would run out of from Afghanistan, sand. This principle considered one of is applicable to the the worst debacles state of California in the history of and Santa Barbara American foreign Andy Caldwell County with respect policy. President to the legalization of Joe Biden promised, marijuana. read that lied, no less than Our state legislature 21 times that he would leave approved a $100 million no Americans behind and bailout of the industry that claimed the withdrawal was was struggling with statea “tremendous success.” imposed taxes and regulations This despite leaving some — instead of lessening the $85 billion worth of our taxes and the regulations! most sophisticated military Santa Barbara County equipment, leaving hundreds supervisors, for their part, behind, while having to ignored the expert who bring back the bodies of 13 warned that the number of American soldiers. grows they were permitting in Regarding President our county alone, would help Biden’s Build Back Better, we oversaturate the California are supposed to believe that market, thereby collapsing the several trillion dollar tax-andmarket price of the product, spend packages “won’t cost a and, subsequently, the tax dime” and that inflation is a proceeds from the same. How sign of a recovering economy. much heartache and conflict Moreover, while ignoring in the hood could have been the backlog of cargo ships otherwise avoided if the and the subsequent supply supervisors had shown some chain breakage, the focus of constraint?

Transportation Secretary Regardless, our government Pete Buttigieg is the height of will prove itself the only overpasses, which he believes entity in the world that could is a racist construct, a double not turn a profit from selling entendre of epic stupidity for drugs. sure.

“We know they are lying, Will the American spirit they know they are lying, that valued self-evident truths they know we know they are revive and return to its senses lying, we know they know before it is too late with we know they are lying, but respect to all the lies being they are still lying” is a quote foisted upon us? often attributed to Aleksandr Lies involving climate Solzhenitsyn. Author Rod change (it always changes!), Dreher writes in his book COVID (two weeks to flatten “Live Not by Lies” about our the curve?), that modern slide into totalitarianism, society can live without the which includes additional energy and the 6,000 products insights from George Orwell’s derived from fossil fuels, the “1984.” Mr. Orwell’s specific ruse that all criminals are warning has to do with the victims, all white people are foundation of totalitarian racist, and that the homeless control, that having to do bear no responsibility for their with “rejecting the evidence fate. of your eyes and ears.”

Oh, America, only the truth This is essential, because, can keep you free. as Mr. Solzhenitsyn warns, totalitarianism depends on an Andy Caldwell is the COLAB ideology of lies. executive director and host of Accordingly, Mr. Dreher “The Andy Caldwell Show,” writes, “We are supposed airing 3 to 5 p.m. weekdays on to believe that “men have KZSB AM 1290, the News-Press periods. The woman standing radio station.

n response to Santa Barbara’s rent control ordinance, here are my top six reasons why rent control is bad for renters: 1. Increased rents: Landlords are incentivized to raise rent by the maximum amount by law every chance they get because if they do not, they will lose the chance later. This results in more frequent rent increases for renters.

2. Poorer living conditions: Landlords do not have the incentive to maintain and improve rent controlled property as much as market rate rentals because they do not have the ability to increase the rent as needed.

This results in less maintenance, cutbacks in upgrades, and poorer service to tenants.

3. Tenants will sublease: If a tenant’s rent controlled apartment is below market rates, tenants may sublease their unit to pocket the difference as profit to themselves.

This scheme was used repeatedly in rent control in Santa Monica.

Therefore, in many instances, rent control does not provide lower rents but incentivizes tenants to sublease illegally to pocket the difference in the market rate.

4. The best landlords are “Mom and Pop” owners — not corporations, governments, or affordable housing agencies. Why? “Mom and Pops” may have lived in the property years ago, have pride in the property, usually like the tenants, and often do not increase rents. I often hear from landlords saying they have not raised the rent on their renter since they moved in 10 or more years ago because they want to help them, they are such nice tenants, and like family to them.

With rent control, landlords are encouraged to raise rents to the maximum allowed by law or risk the chance of raising it later if needed.

5. Banks do not like to lend on properties with rent control because of the increased risk of default: Expenses and inflation may rise more than an increase in rent making their loan payments more at risk. This hurts renters with fewer properties available, higher interest rates because of riskier loans, and less money available for the landlord to invest in the property for the renter.

6. Property values and condition deteriorate: Rental property values are based on their income.

Lower income = lower value.

Lower values = poorer condition.

Fact: Renters do not care for properties as much as owners.

Thus renters will be forced to live in poorer conditions.

The incentive should be for home ownership, not perpetual renting. One’s wealth is not created by renting. Owning your own home with no debt is the most affordable housing you will ever have. Let’s use that as your goal when making affordable housing decisions.

Rent control is not the answer to cheaper living costs. Home ownership, more supply, low property taxes, ease of regulations and more free market competition in housing are the answers.

Allan S. Jones President and principal broker Santa Ynez Valley Real Estate Company, Solvang

2021 Democratic reveal party

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onald Trump can cite many accomplishments as president

of the United States, and many of his accomplishments had a very positive impact on the country.

There is one, however, that I’m not so sure about.

Mr. Trump caused the 2021 Democratic reveal party. He did it by taunting and insulting them personally and idealistically. If he wasn’t so brash, insulting and braggadocious and his policies so successful, I wonder if the new ruling party would have been slower and more cautious about rolling out their leftist, socialist agenda. The agenda that is currently destroying this country.

Democrats have always presented themselves as the righteous protectors of the downtrodden, saviors of the poor and all people of color. Champions of civil rights and equality for all Americans. Now that they totally control the government they have revealed themselves, and we have watched in horror as their leftist policies, one by one, have wreaked havoc on America.

Maybe we should thank Mr. Trump for lifting the veil and exposing the Democrats once and for all. Or should we blame him for provoking what appears to be an attempted leftist takeover of America?

Mr. Trump could have racked up his successes quietly without poking the sleeping dog. But that is not in his personality. He did poke it, and we are now seeing that it is a rabid dog and we are all getting bit.

In just his first year, Joe Biden and his accomplices have encouraged a crime wave in America like we have never seen before. Theft, violent crime and murder are skyrocketing and setting records all over the country but especially in the large Democratic run cities.

In less than a year we have gone from a booming economy to the highest inflation rate in 39 years. Equality is now racist, and only equity is acceptable to the left. They don’t want equality of opportunity, they want equality of outcome. Meritocracy is gone.

What is important now is the group you belong to and the color of your skin.

Freedom of speech? It’s disappearing. Any disagreement with the ruling party is now censored by mainstream media and Big Tech as being “not factual.” This, after creating their own facts and their own fact checkers to confuse the public and support whatever narrative the Democrats are pushing.

They have taken a secure southern border and purposely eliminated every policy that was working to contain illegal immigration. We now effectively have an open border. Over two million illegal aliens have crossed the border this year and they are not tested for COVID. The cartels are smuggling vast amounts of fentanyl across the border, and it is now the leading cause of death in Americans between the ages of 18 and 45.

Suspected terrorists are sneaking in also, but hey don’t worry, they’re probably mostly peaceful.

Despite their denials, we have seen with our own eyes, the attempt to indoctrinate our school children with racist elements of critical race theory. Who would have thought that parents who objected to this at school board meetings would be investigated by our Justice Department as domestic terrorists? It’s hard to believe that this could happen in America. But it is.

And who can forget one of the most incompetent foreign policy blunders in modern times.

American lives lost, Americans

and our allies deserted in Afghanistan. Then of course the lies and the coverup. Nobody fell for it.

The world watched as President Joe Biden’s incompetence was on full display.

I know it’s a little bit of a stretch to blame Mr. Trump for what the Democrats are now doing to the country, but I think he was in a position to win re-election and not only pursue an agenda that would benefit us, his re-election would have protected us from the fallout of the most leftist administration in the history of the country.

The COVID pandemic hurt Mr. Trump in the election no doubt because the Democrats exploited it politically, but he had to have known that was coming. He didn’t get the credit he deserved for the Warp Speed program that created a vaccine faster than even his critics expected. Mainstream media saturated the news cycles with anti-Trump rhetoric while at the same time burying negative stories on Mr. Biden and portraying the cranky old democrat as a lovable jokester.

Still, Mr. Trump could have pulled it off had he just displayed some self discipline, a little more class on sensitive topics and maybe a touch of humility once in a while. He needed to say the right thing at the right time and not constantly make himself such an easy target of the race hustlers.

He was constantly poking the dog.

Are Democrats trying to destroy the county? I think many on the left are and they are having much success. They think the destruction of our culture and our institutions will open the door to their radical leftist ideas for a new socialistic country.

The Democrats came out in 2021. Hopefully the country can survive the aftermath.

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began in 1788.

It was in 1788, in Scotland, when a centuries old oral poem was recited to a poet: Robert Burns (1759-1796). Burns was so moved Square. by the recitation of an A “tradition” is defined old man that he made the as “the transmission of first written record of custom or belief from “Auld Lang Syne” and on generation to generation.”

June 25, 1788, enclosed it That ball dropping is a with a note to the Scots tradition that began in Musical Museum stating 1907 in New York City. he found the poem However, the dropping of exceedingly “expressive the ball starting during “and its unknown author Brent E. the final moments of “heavenly inspired” (Wall Zepke the departing year also Street Journal, 12/31/2010). illustrates the tradition Besides there being a The author of remembering the Musical Museum in 1788, lives in Santa departing year. it is fascinating that Burns Barbara.

Some memories, such not only became a poet as in New York in the during a time of great final moments of 1906, included upheaval — such a calm word for the honor of the city being the violence — in Scotland. But Burns temporary home of the nation’s also became known as the “Bard of capital, while in San Francisco Scotland.” it was the sad memory of the Based on what has been said, earthquake. However, the tradition it was his “genius” for putting used on many New Year’s Eves to himself into the shoes of others remember the past times actually and sympathizing with their plight

The author is a senior fellow with the Taxpayers Protection Alliance

U.S. Postal Service must be more transparent

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that probably earned him the fame as a “romantic poet.” It was this romantic poet who thought the lyrics were “heavenly inspired” and “expressive” of emotions just two years after he published the book “Poems, chiefly in the Scottish Dialect” in 1786.

This background is maybe interesting, but why is the song version of this poem sung on New Year’s Eve? It begins with the question of: Should auld acquaintance be forgot And never brought to mind.

The lyrics asks the question of whether we should remember old friends and then, like a lawyer on cross examination, the poem sets the “foundation” for the time period in the chorus: And for long, long ago, my dear For long, long ago.

It also recognizes there will be mixed memories of times gone by: We two have run the slopes, and packed the daisies fine

ransparency and accountability are supposed to be the hallmarks of any democratically elected government.

Unfortunately, progress in shining the light on government activities has been disturbingly uneven.

Most Americans are familiar with the controversy over warrantless wiretapping and the uncooperative federal response to requests for greater transparency.

But few realize that America’s mail carrier has gone rogue. A recent news report highlights the U.S. Postal Service’s continued inability to open up to the American people about its mission creep and operational dysfunction. From blockchain security to social media surveillance to report redactions, the agency simply refuses to explain its activities to taxpayers and consumers.

It’s time for Postmaster General Louis DeJoy to introduce some much-needed transparency to agency operations.

On Dec. 13, Washington Post contributors Joseph Marks and Jacob Bogage reported the “U.S. Postal Service pursued a project to build and secretly test a blockchain-based mobile phone voting system before the 2020 election, experimenting with a technology that the government’s own cybersecurity agency says can’t be trusted to securely handle ballots.”

The initiative was shelved by the agency after tests revealed that the voting system was susceptible to hacking.

Strangely, though, the U.S. Postal Service never told anyone about this potentially game-changing technology.

Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency senior advisor Matt Masterson said he was never told about this initiative despite his critical role as the federal government’s chief liaison to state and local election officials. He reasonably argued that it’s “scandalous for a government entity to conduct research into the security of blockchain online voting, which shows how insecure it is, but then hide the results and deprive the public and officials of these findings for over two years.”

And this is hardly the first time that the USPS has hid its activities from the public.

In April, Yahoo News reported that the agency runs an investigation unit known as the Internet Covert Operations Program, which sounds more like a CIA op than a postal division. According to the news outlet, the “work involves having analysts trawl through social media sites to look for what the document describes as ‘inflammatory’ postings and then sharing that information across government agencies.”

As if that isn’t (mission) creepy enough, the agency uses facial recognition software during internet searches “to help identify unknown targets in an investigation or locate additional social media accounts for known individuals.”

Then there’s the agency’s regular refusal to release data, spurning Freedom of Information Act requests that could help independent researchers and analysts pinpoint its many problems.

In fiscal year 2019, the agency issued full denials to more than 35% of processed and finalized FOIA requests. This makes the USPS moderately more transparent than the CIA (55%), but considerably more tight-lipped than NASA (11%), the Department of Justice (6%), and the Department of Homeland Security (2%). That’s quite an anomaly, given that the latter three agencies and departments routinely deal with sensitive intelligence that has national security implications.

The USPS could spare itself

Please see ZEPKE on C4

Please see MARCHAND on C4

Curt Russell Santa Barbara

More heroes than we thought

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t has taken post-World War II America a long time to figure out that police, firefighters and the military are not the only heroes in our society.

It is true that country music singers, rappers, movie stars and billionaires have been getting more and more traction in recent decades. Outstanding individual pay-it-forward-type citizens have stood out as well.

But once the pandemic broke out, America finally realized we had to lean on healthcare workers, teachers and even factory, transportation and retail workers more than ever before. And those workers stood up to the task amazingly well.

In our democracy, especially in its economically and socially declining phase, we should also consider the existence of other, largely unrecognized, categories of heroes. In my mind these include nonprofit founders, public health, welfare and justice system officials (yes, even judges), small business owners and newspaper editors.

And if we are somehow able to think like actual free people, we can’t overlook our own family ancestors, our churches, our elected officials and especially the founders of our nation.

Heroes are not defined alone by muscles, courage and money. They must also have knowledge, public spirit and exemplary lives.

Kimball Shinkoskey Woods Cross, Utah (A former Santa Barbara County resident)

Getting to the heart of ‘Auld Lang Syne’ tradition for many Americans to welcome in a new year by counting 5-4-3-2-1 at a ball drop-in in Times

Ross Marchand

SANTA BARBARA NEWS-PRESS

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VOICES

Still standing with Steven Baca

efore Kyle Rittenhouse became a household name, there was Steven Baca.

You probably never knew or maybe have forgotten who Steven is. I’d like to dedicate this column, which was the last one I wrote in 2021, to remind you of his plight and would like to ask you to help me support his defense of the right to self-defense.

Steven’s case matters because the woke, George Soros-funded district attorney leading the witchhunt prosecution against Steven may soon be New Mexico’s next attorney general if good people do nothing.

Flashback to June 15, 2020.

Across America, mayhem and mob anarchy reigned. It had been three weeks since the policeinvolved death of Minneapolis career criminal and drug addict George Floyd. Black Lives Matter terrorists weaponized chaos nationwide to loot, pillage and burn down businesses small and large. Antifa militants exploited every opportunity to target precious symbols of our national heritage and history, vandalize federal court buildings and churches, and menace all who stood in their way.

On June 15, 2020, as I reported on social media just hours after the violent events unfolded,

Steven and several other that she was a cop. friends and neighbors gathered In several videos of the toppling peacefully at Tiguex Park in of the Onate statue, at least two of Albuquerque, N.M., to protect a the agitators can be seen laying statue of Spanish conquistador hands on Ms. Rivera. She told me Juan de Onate. one woman tried to steal Esther Rivera, a 14thher phone. generation Albuquerque As she was pushed to the grandmother, showed up ground, Steven Baca tried to guard the memorial to rescue her. and told me that night: A swarm of women “I was there to pray blocked Steven, and for peace and the multiple videos show him preservation of these trying to peel the women statues and preservation Michelle Malkin off of him and Ms. Rivera. of historical art.”

He was a defender, not an The Onate monument aggressor. had long been a trigger for local As I wrote in my syndicated agitators identified as Black column last year, assailants Lives Matter protesters. Onate, screamed falsely that Steven was of course, had zilch to do with a cop to stir up the mob as they St. George Floyd or any alleged tore down the statue. “I’m gonna victim of “institutional racism” in (expletive uttered) kill you,” “Get America. But his legacy is part of his license plate,” and, “Kill him,” the fabric woven by the settlers, they threatened — all captured on pioneers, colonizers and founders video. who made America America.

Steven retreated from the And there’s nothing that the crowd, separated from Ms. social justice crowd hates more Rivera. He ran into the street, than anything or anybody that where several rioters beat him in represents our historic American the head and body with a large nation. skateboard (a “longboard”) — Livestream video broadcast eerily similar to what happened to during the melee at Tiguex Park Kyle Rittenhouse just two months showed protesters wielding later. That is when Steven drew pickaxes and other objects. They his weapon and fired several shots strapped chains to the Onate at his attackers. statue while several belligerent The man who is captured women verbally assaulted Ms. assaulting Steven with the Rivera. Some screamed falsely skateboard is Scott Williams, a

left-wing rabble-rouser whose social media accounts promoted antifa, BLM, Saul Alinsky and extremist efforts to “decolonize history.”

A police report on Mr. Williams I obtained documented his alleged harassment and threats against Albuquerque musician Alan Ledergerber for contributing to a GoFundMe campaign supporting free speech dissident Milo Yiannopoulos in 2017. Mr. Williams encouraged his friends to dox other donors. The APD report detailed Mr. Williams’ posts encouraging property damage and messages from Mr. Williams promising to “throw first blows” against Mr. Ledergerber and destroy his career in the arts.

The Bernalillo County district attorney Raul Torrez brought no charges against Mr. Williams for assaulting Steven Baca.

Instead, he charged Steven with aggravated battery and unlawful carrying of a deadly weapon.

No trial date has been set, but pretrial hearings have been completed, and the case hangs heavy over Steven’s life.

I remind you that Raul Torrez is one of dozens of George Sorossubsidized subversives who put “social justice” above equal justice. A Soros front group called the “New Mexico Safety & Justice” PAC — pro-criminal, pro-rioter, anti-cop, anti-Second Amendment

— dumped more than $107,000 into Mr. Torrez’s campaign in 2016.

Mr. Torrez is now a leading contender to run for New Mexico attorney general in 2022. He is sitting on campaign coffers filled with $334,000 in cash.

Steven, meanwhile, continues to face threats to his safety. After the Rittenhouse verdict, one agitator at a New Mexico protest told local media: “It will not be justice if Steven Baca is acquitted. ... We will not stand by if he walks free in New Mexico.”

I will not stand by and let Steven Baca be abandoned by so-called law-and-order conservatives and feckless Republicans who have ignored his plight and discouraged others from speaking out.

Steven is banned from Facebook and GoFundMe, but 1,275 donors have joined me in raising $60,000 for his case.

You can find the crowdfunding campaign here: https://fundly.com/ stand-with-steven-baca. It’s us or the anarchotyrannists. Choose.

Michelle Malkin’s email address is michellemalkinInvestigates@ protonmail.com. To find out more about Michelle Malkin and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.

Copyright 2021 by Creators.com.

Congress must keep this New Year’s resolution “Some friends ask about your new year’s resolutions. Good friends don’t say too much about them.

Your best friends don’t mention them at all, since they know you will never keep them.”

— Jay Leno

from Levi’s to Master Locks, shut down their factories and moved to China. The report noted we buy more clothing and shoes from China than the U.S. A former Perry Ellis plant is now home to a Walmart plant that puts parts into TVs made in China.

It’s time Joe Biden quits blaming our supply chain problems and high inflation on the pandemic! We are not only “overly dependent” on imports from countries that don’t share our political beliefs and policies. Countries like Red China are competing with us using technology that they stole from us.

“When it comes time to hang the capitalists, we will use the rope they sold us.”

— Vladimir Lenin

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etween Dec. 26 and Jan. 2, people make an existential U-turn.

The season of goodwill, visiting and gift giving William morphs into a Haupt neurotic selfimprovement The author is period as we a contributor confront our to The Center disquieting Square anxieties. Which of my habits to stop? Who do I want to be? What do I wish to look like and more.

It’s a fact; many New Year’s resolutions are outlandish, unattainable and even ridiculous.

Most are frivolously made after over-imbibing on the “bubbly” during celebrations. It’s uncanny that few really expect to keep them. And some people don’t even remember resolutions they made the next day?

While “great expectations” have plagued mankind for centuries, since most people are forgiving by nature, we do not normally burn anyone at the stake for not keeping the resolutions that they made on New Year’s. We even tend to forgive those that politicians always make and never plan to keep.

“By God, I will govern for everyone in America; even for those who did not vote for me.”

— President Joe Biden It is daunting when our list of New Year’s resolutions is longer

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SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

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Columnist William Haupt contends that fixing supply chain problems (represented by ships sitting at the Port of Los Angeles) can be best fixed by passing the National Manufacturing Guard Act and cutting the U.S. dependence on imports from undemocratic nations such as China.

than our holiday shopping lists.

And it’s even more frustrating not being able to keep even one resolution by late January.

According to Lynn Bufka, Ph.D., “People have a habit of setting overwhelming goals instead of attainable goals.”

Each year, every member of Congress and the White House promises to cut our trade deficit with China, yet it continues to grow each year, faster than Pinocchio’s nose grows every time he fibs.

Is our federal government telling us what they think we want to hear? Or are these half truths just grandiose New Year’s resolutions?

“A lie told often enough becomes the truth.”

— Vladimir Lenin

If we learned anything from the pandemic, it is how vulnerable our supply chain is to the impulses of Red China. Although recently America has not been acting like a superpower, it is considered a dominant player in global affairs.

Isn’t it also the world’s strongest nation with the most influence?

If America is “too big to fail” and dictates policy to the world, then why did we allow Red China to maneuver our economy for four decades? Since the 1979 accord signed by Jimmy Carter and Deng Xiaoping that legitimized Red China, we’ve become dependent on China for economic survival.

The 1979 accord opened the door for manufacturers to recover lost profits due to union demands for egregious wages and benefits.

Many had closed their doors.

Others were merging to survive.

Chinese cheap “labor” has fueled innovative product creation at the expense of U.S. engineering and development, utilizing U.S. resources. Since China has no respect for international intellectual property rights, they clone everything they make for us and compete against us in our own nation.

“Communists must always put the interests of Communists first in order to survive.”

— Mao Zedong A Federal Reserve report shows the U. S. is running a record trade deficit with China. Companies that used to make products in the U.S.,

It’s scary the U.S. has placed its economic fate in Red China at the expense of democratic nations like Mexico and India. Although Ford has a plant in Mexico, India’s Sun Pharmaceuticals is the largest generic drug supplier in the world.

And India has the ability to do anything that China does.

Economist Matt Slaughteg reminds us: for years we had production contracts with Mexico, India and Eastern Europe. But when China opened their free markets, American companies flocked to China because they had no unions, no labor laws, low taxes and fewer government regulations.

We are all aware of our dependence on rogue nations for energy and what they’ve done to us for years. Not only are we forced to turn to inferior, costly technology for energy, this threatens our national security. And it is a socioeconomic nightmare for every U.S. citizen and business as well.

Please see HAUPT on C4

Putin’s press conference: a hard sell

he Grinch did not steal Mr. Putin demonstrated Christmas this year, chutzpah on various fronts, but Russia President including regarding the Vladimir Putin did economy. Real incomes grew by his level best to approximately 3.5% this year. cast a shadow over our holiday Averting total economic collapse spirit. The Kremlin killjoy has two decades ago remains a been doing his year-end press primary accomplishment. conference for two decades, Nonetheless, those incomes starting in 2001. remain lower than in 2013.

His latest such interchange with Inflation has reached at least 8.4 the media, on Dec. 23, featured percent. his usual impressive Russia remains an performance. This drama important source of world Arthur I. is certainly preferable to petroleum supply and Cyr the grotesque show trials heavily dependent on that of Stalin’s Soviet Union. income. Such dependence Russia’s president held guarantees fundamental forth for over four hours, alone an weakness. ordeal. Throughout, he showed Of particular importance, and impressive self-confidence as generally underreported, are well as command of considerable comments about the Central Bank specific information. of Russia. Mr. Putin acknowledged The interchange was not broad complaints about the completely spontaneous but also relatively high interest rates not completely scripted. This was instituted to combat inflation. not a “show” press conference.

He not only defended this as Worthwhile insights into official necessary, but also underscored thinking did result. the importance of an independent The conference took place incentral bank authority. person in a large Moscow hall.

This is pure capitalism, though Last year, the event was remote Mr. Putin of course would never from Novo-Ogaryovo, a luxurious so state. The abandonment of suburban estate. President Putin the previous state controlled does not live like the workers. command economy is complete.

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A market economy, however unsteady and corrupt, is in place.

Undeniably, the discredited, failed communist system is dead.

Mr. Putin demonstrated quickness of mind but not always candor or directness. Among other examples, he was dismissive of the ordeal of Alexei Navalny, a prominent dissident highly influential on social media.

Novichok, a nerve agent used

against other individuals at odds with the Kremlin, attacked Mr. Navalny. He is alive thanks to an emergency evacuation to Berlin.

After partial recuperation, he returned voluntarily to Russia, where he was immediately arrested and remains in prison.

Courageous Navalny personifies limited but growing opposition to the Putin regime, which after two decades is now increasingly repressive. Management of the latest press conference reflects this harshness.

In the past, media applied for accreditation. This time, by contrast, the Kremlin selected those who could attend. Approximately 500 domestic and international press representatives participated.

Among publications excluded was Novaya Gazeta. Managing Editor Dmitry Muratov just received the Nobel Peace Prize.

Fellow journalist Maria Ressa of the Philippines also got the prestigious award. Both demonstrate great courage in opposing repression, resisting intimidation, thereby risking their lives and their careers.

Media understandably focus on Ukraine, where Russia’s ominous

military buildup continues. Mr. Putin heatedly asserted NATO is the provocateur, which is false.

Russia’s border anxieties are intense, reflecting a long history of brutal invasions. We should seek diplomatic confirmation of border stability and complement bilateral negotiations scheduled for early next year through involving Europe.

Realism should guide policy, emphasizing the essential role of nation-states, and focus on national interests. A source of basic U.S. strength is our market economy, increasingly the way of the world Russia today remains influential but isolated.

Learn more from reading John Mearsheimer’s “The Great Delusion: Liberal Dreams and International Realities.”

Arthur I. Cyr is the author of “After the Cold War” (NYU and Palgrave/ Macmillan). He is also director of the Clausen Center at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wisc., where he is a Clausen Distinguished Professor.

John Stossel

Capitalists do the most good

I

t’s the season for giving.

I’ll give.

This week I’ll donate to the Doe Fund, a charity that helps drug users and ex-cons find purpose in life through work. “Work works!” they say. It sure does. Most Doe Fund workers find more joy in supporting themselves than they ever found in drugs.

I’ll also donate to Student Sponsor Partners, a nonprofit that gives scholarships to atrisk kids so they can escape bad public schools. SSP sends them to Catholic school. I’m not Catholic, but I support SSP because government-run schools are often so bad that Catholic schools do better at half the cost. Thousands of families have broken the cycle of poverty thanks to SSP. When I was young, I assumed government would lift people out of poverty. “It’s inexcusable that there are so many poor people in this rich country,” my college professors taught.

“Government programs will raise skill levels, improve parenting, give a leg up to the poor.”

That’s when the War on Poverty began.

At the time, many Americans were already lifting themselves out of poverty. Year by year, the number of families below the poverty line — defined as earning less than three times what they need to feed themselves — had decreased.

Then came the people from the government with their programs. They spent almost $30 trillion on their “war.”

They made some progress.

For about seven years, the poverty rate dropped. But then progress mostly stopped.

That’s because many people became dependent on government handouts. Learned helplessness, it’s called.

Government poverty programs created an “underclass,” generations of people who don’t work because they lose benefits if they do.

This passivity was something new — and bad.

That’s why it’s better when charities help people. Charity managers can make judgments about who really needs help and who needs a kick in the butt. Charities can discourage Please see STOSSEL on C4

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VOICES

SUNDAY, JANUARY 2, 2022

Bad behavior is not tolerated, nor rewarded DONOVAN

Continued from Page C1 stopped them in their tracks.

However, several neighbors proceeded down these railroad tracks to investigate the homeless encampments.

Two months ago from this day, a bonfire exploded when transients camping on the railroad tracks created a fire that got away from them, while they were cooking their drugs. The fire spread to the adjoining property and mushroomed into an incident that required three engines and a fire truck to respond. The engines and truck were on the scene for three hours.

Transients on the railroad tracks are not hard to find, nor are the encampments. Transient warming fires that spread and endanger landscapes are nothing new; think the Loma Alta Fire.

Still, there are consequences: Holding people accountable is the only way to foment change. When people are not held accountable for not doing their jobs, nothing changes. Conventional wisdom, common sense. What is obvious to any 5-year-old who is never corrected.

Case in point: 60 feet from the Bath Street fire, an encampment continues to grow, which has been reported repeatedly since September. To add fuel to the fire, literally, on the site, clearly seen from the cul-de-sac, sit two red plastic gasoline cans. What can you do but throw up your hands? Again, no consequences for their actions, nothing improves.

Throwing more good money after bad.

Speaking of nothing getting better, as Michael Shellenberger in his new book “San Fransicko,” has pointed out, “progressivism” is a failed ideology that perpetuates

a victim — mentality and thus victimhood within society’s most vulnerable population. It keeps designated populations utterly dependent on the state and, we suspect, does so on purpose.

Michelle Tandler, a resident of San Francisco, discovered that in America’s most progressive city — and now throughout the country — certain questions are not even allowed. Mr. Tandler sees no room in the progressive ideology for discourse. It’s about dependence and docility.

In our town, we have seen plenty of our own present city council discussions end with unanimous votes. Even though questions were asked, it appeared no one would step out of line. Dependence and docility? Go along to get along?

This is the progressive theme that the Santa Barbara City Council has prided themselves with just how progressive they are, like a red badge of courage.

Oh, it’s red all right. After all, our city council is consistently championing the victims of landlords, victims of the boss, victims of the “man” and of climate change, ad nauseum. As Joan Rivers would say, “OH, GROW UP!” Not being any particular fan of Elon Musk, another mega billionaire who wields way too much power in the world, we did take note of his most recent commentary. The first, where he gravely warns that America’s declining birth rate would lead to catastrophe. But we were especially pleased by his take on woke culture. At its heart, wokeness is divisive, exclusionary and hateful. It basically gives mean people a shield to be mean and cruel, armored in false virtue.”

Thank you, Elon Musk.

“Do not fear the lack of knowledge, fear false knowledge.”

— Leo Tolstoy

On another sad note, we recently read that California ranks third behind Texas and Illinois, (Chicago), in police officer fatalities. The most officers shot in the line of duty this year was in Texas with 42 officers shot, followed by 25 in Illinois and 21 in California. With more police officers dying in 2021, than in any other year on record, how can we disregard the woke promotion of defunding the police in many of our nation’s most prominent cities?

Anywhere they could, including our own city of Santa Barbara.

Lest we forget, just this past year, when our former Police Chief Lori Luhnow, along with the mayor and city council, all took to their knees before the demands of BLM representatives.

Let’s call it a breath of fresh air, a clean slate, a new day, a brandnew start. Some of our great expectations are to see incoming Mayor Randy Rowse holding people and department heads accountable. The only way to make people be accountable is for consequences to be dire enough that others learn by example and the behavior stops.

In other words, the bad behavior is not tolerated, nor rewarded, as we have seen in some cases.

All too often, what we have experienced is simply a pat on the hand and business as usual. Oh, and collect $500,000 as you pass go – (away). It’s criminal. And that’s not the only one. Think of all the lawsuits paid out by the city, while the city employee keeps their job, not affected at all, but in fact becomes the role model of “how to do business.”

Another black mark in our city government is the vindictiveness that pervades many decisions and actions by our city employees sometimes to underlings, sometimes to the public. It is incoming Mayor Rowse’s and

the city council’s purview and imperative to insist the city administrator holds the employees accountable, so everyone gets fair and equal treatment, with follow up and documentation. Enough said.

The Santa Barbara Public Library downtown is closed through Jan. 4. That is the sign posted outside of the library.

However, when you search for the hours online, it lists the library as open. What’s a family to do on a cozy rainy season but go to the library and get a book!

Approximately 10 others were as disappointed as our reader.

We know the city wants a holiday too, but shouldn’t the library be open between Christmas and New Year’s?

Did you know that former City Councilmember and IT engineer Dale Francisco is hosting “Voices of Santa Barbara” on local radio.

His show premieres at 10 a.m.

Wednesday on KZSB, AM-1290, the News-Press radio station.

On Jan 8, annual Pruning Event returns to the A.C. Postel Memorial Rose Garden near the Santa Barbara Mission. In case of rain, it will be rescheduled for Jan. 15.

Bring gloves and pruning shears. The training and refreshments are free. At least some honored and valued traditions are returning.

We are still expecting to see State Street reopened to accommodate our world-class parades: most especially, Summer Solstice and Fiesta. But we want to see the other State Street parades return: Fourth of July, Veteran’s Day, Christmas. All of it.

We want our city and traditions intact.

Bonnie Donovan writes the “Did You Know?” column in conjunction with a bipartisan group of local citizens. It appears Sundays in the Voices section.

All parents want their children to be healthy

HOLLIS

Continued from Page C1 testosterone suppression drugs (Thomas) takes, he will always be a biological male and have the advantage.”

Denying the physical advantages of biological males in sport is absurd. (Further proof of this is the near complete absence of female-to-male gender transitioners competing in men’s sports.) Here again, real scientific truth is sacrificed on the altar of “progressive” narrative.

If some men want to transition and identify as “female,” give them their own sports category and let them compete in it. If there aren’t many, so what? It will be that much easier to set records. But allowing them to steal opportunities from biological females is wrong.

No. 5: Teachers need to stick to

teaching.

According to recent reports in Education Week and Business Insider, U.S. students are falling seriously behind their counterparts in other industrialized nations.

U.S. high school math scores are now in the bottom half among the 71 countries surveyed, and 24th in science. Millennials in the U.S. workforce rank dead last in math and problem-solving, relative to those in other developed nations.

Not every failing can be laid at the feet of the schools; many of our problems start in the home. But it is inexcusable that, facing these statistics, we have districts, schools and teachers wasting students’ time and taxpayers’ money preaching “systemic racism” and “white privilege,” encouraging sexual promiscuity and gender confusion, promoting pornography, denying or making excuses for assaults and eliminating advanced

classes for students who need them.

No. 6: The well-being of children is a winning issue because it transcends politics.

All parents want their children to be healthy. None want pornography in schools.

They want privacy and safety in bathrooms, locker rooms and classrooms. They want opportunities for advanced academics and supplemental support when children need them. These concerns are not limited to Republicans, conservatives, white people or the wealthy. As seen in Virginia, Democrats get eviscerated on these issues, justifiably, because accusing parents of being racist or too ignorant to know what’s best for their children is callous, transparently false and stupid, yet Democrats continue to do it. Fine.

Let them lose.

No. 7: When Americans speak up and stand together, we win.

Whether at school board or city council meetings, in our businesses, in the streets, in the courtrooms or at the polls, when Americans take the offense and tell those in power what we will and will not stand for, we win.

For too long, those in control of the government, our schools and our media have counted on and exploited a trusting, poorly informed population. Things have changed. Millions have had their eyes opened. The elites don’t like it — and that tells you plenty.

Good riddance to 2021. Here’s to a country filled with proactive patriots in 2022.

To find out more about Laura Hollis and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www.creators.com.

Copyright 2021 by Creators.com.

The U.S. has placed its economic fate in Red China HAUPT

Continued from Page C3 “Our supply chain is strained because we depend on so many critical imports.”

— Jerome Powell Psychologists agree, when people set overwhelming goals on New Year’s, they seldom keep them. This is what Congress and the president vow to do every year with our trade deficit. This year we have an opportunity to hold their feet to the fire and make them do it with midterms coming soon.

U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., and Chris Coons, D-Delaware, introduced a bill for the

ZEPKE

Continued from Page C2 But we’ve wondered many a weary foot Since good old times.

We two have paddled the stream, from morning sun till dine, But seas between us broad have roared since good old times.

Certainly, the themes of pleasure and difficult times were reflected in my memories on many a New Year’s Eve. Pleasure is topped by Dec. 31 when my daughter Hollie was born, as well as memories of the births of my sons Chad and Grant, although they were both born in October.

The New Year’s Eve that made me a legend in New York was the one where I wanted to take Hollie on her 21st birthday to have her first legal drink in the 21 Club. We reserved a suite for Hollie and her anticipated couple of friends at the Algonquin Hotel and a room for

government to invest $1 billion to mitigate future supply chain issues.

It will identify manufacturing and distribution issues and will strengthen our supply chains, and reduce our reliance on imports, especially from China.

The National Manufacturing Guard Act will help the Department of Commerce prepare us for future import crises. Most importantly, this bill will help the DOC identify supply chain problems and manufacturing issues. It also allows the DOC to partner with private industry and promotes the establishment of apprenticeship programs that will help increase US manufacturing and production.

vulnerable our supply chains are; its time to fix them.”

— Sen. Marco Rubio

“The pandemic showed us how

President Ronald Reagan once said, “Capitalism is the most powerful weapon against communism.”

Both India and Mexico are democratic nations with cheap labor. It is time we increase outsourcing labor to them and quit empowering communist China with our intellectual technology and U.S. dollars.

With midterms coming, we have it in our power to make Congress pass The NMGA and enforce it.

Congress is great at making grandiose promises during elections. Like people on New

Carol and me.

When we were getting ready to leave, 12 of Hollie’s closest girlfriends showed up at our house and shifted our plans from train to express bus. My leading 13 attractive 20–21-year-old girls with small suitcases from bus station to hotel through a neighborhood where this type of caravan was for, let’s say, a much different purpose, is how legends are made. The adventures in that the suite were made more interesting when each of my sons arrived with a friend, bringing the occupants to 17.

The most difficult times involved far too many times of sipping a quiet drink while praying for the recovery of a family member or friend who was fighting for their life. Somehow those times were more difficult than when I was fighting for mine.

Other New Year’s Eves, I remembered the responses that I inevitably received from my lawyer friends when I asked how their year was: “Pretty good but I worry

about next year.”

I used to think that there would be few problems if I never had to try and earn a living like the royal family of England.

Interestingly as I watched a relationship become the dominant theme as Prince Charles jeopardize his position and ruined his marriage, Prince Andrew did the same through Jeffrey Epstein, and Prince Harry resigned his position, which is consistent with the words of Robert Burns’ “A woman can make an average man great, and a great man average.”

While the palace spun the tail that King Edward the VIII abdicated his throne to marry a divorced American, historians assert that he was forced out due to his ties to Germany.

Did Prince Harry, now of Montecito, voluntarily resign or to demonstrate the Burns’ quote “The best laid plans of mice and men?”

Princess Diana represents the importance of love, honor, a loving relationship and, sadly, of health and

Year’s, once the thrill of the chase is over, they forget the resolutions and promises they made campaigning. A resolution to cut our dependence on imports from undemocratic nations is one they have to keep.

The National Manufacturing Guard Act is a baby step in the right direction and it is long overdue.

Tell your congressmen if they cannot keep this New Year’s resolution, then you cannot keep them.

Someone is getting very wealthy SCHULTE

Continued from Page C1 vaccine was going to be 95% effective. How’s that working out? Once you get the shot you no longer have to wear your mask.

Oops.

The vaccine wears out after six months, you need a booster.

If you don’t get a booster, you’re fired. And now the word on the street is three months after your booster you’re going to need another booster. An incredibly as I was about to send this off, I heard we’re likely going to need them forever. Boy, someone is getting very wealthy.

Circling back to who brought us this ruination our lives; have you heard anything about what’s happening in China? Do we know if they have an omicron breakout? Do we know if they developed a fool-proof vaccine?

Are Chinese citizens still dying in large numbers?

Are they still working on gain of function on other viruses? Are they planning to unleash another more powerful germ?

In the meantime, we reward

them with all our business, sold out the American worker, sports organizations praise them, and the left downplays the slave labor, the racism, the lack of free speech and the lack of freedom of religion. All the things the left fight about in America, they give China a pass. Including causing the worst air pollution on the planet. Don’t preach to me I have to do more about “climate change” when China has cities you can’t even see across the street.

President Biden’s people and the left exploited a virus brought to us by China and used it to turn Americans against each other.

To try and gain more power and make Americans government dependent. All China has to do now is sit back and watch us dissolve, but you know they’re not just sitting on their hands.

Thank you, China. We’ll see how many more American deaths you’ll be responsible for in 2022 and all the new variants you’ll give us this year.

Henry Schulte welcomes any and all feedback: hschulteopinions@ gmail.com.

Government never disappears, even when it fails STOSSEL

Continued from Page C3 dependence.

But there’s an even better way to help people: capitalism. Not that I’ll convince most people.

When Elon Musk was named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year, Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., complained that Mr. Musk should “pay taxes and stop freeloading off everyone else.”

Freeloading?

“I will pay more taxes than any American in history ($11 billion this year),” Mr. Musk responded.

“Don’t spend it all at once ... Oh, wait, you did already.”

Love that answer.

Mr. Musk is skeptical about charity, too. The United Nations World Food Programme asked billionaires to donate $6.6 billion.

Musk replied that if the WFB could describe “exactly how $6B will solve world hunger, I will sell Tesla stock right now and do it.”

The WFB already spends more than $6 billion, and the group says “$6B will not solve world hunger” but “will prevent geopolitical instability, mass migration and save 42 million people on the brink of starvation.”

Mr. Musk didn’t donate. That may be wise, given how much international food aid already gets wasted.

Mr. Musk does give to charities, but he’s called a “cheapskate” for not giving more.

I’m OK with Mr. Musk not giving more. It doesn’t make him a bad guy.

Some billionaires do nasty things. Mark Zuckerberg censors truthful reporting.

Mr. Zuckerberg and Jeff Bezos sneakily lobby for regulations (like a minimum wage) that hurt their competitors.

But I’d still rather they spend their money than give it to some charities.

Mr. Zuckerberg invents better ways to connect with people. Mr. Bezos makes shopping cheaper and easier. Mr. Musk makes satellite internet available to more people.

Businesses do things like that because competition forces them to spend money well. If they don’t, they disappear. Government never disappears, even when it fails.

Sen. Warren calls Mr. Musk a “freeloader” because he doesn’t pay more taxes, but entrepreneurs like Mr. Musk are national treasures.

Capitalists are the people who do the most good for the world. People hate them, but it’s capitalists who create the jobs, lift people out of poverty and feed the world.

I’m a reporter, not an entrepreneur. I’m not likely to invent something new and useful. So today, I’ll give money to charity. It makes me happy.

But the world benefits more from people like Elon Musk, if they just keep inventing things.

John Stossel is creator of Stossel TV and author of “Give Me a Break: How I Exposed Hucksters, Cheats, and Scam Artists and Became the Scourge of the Liberal Media.” For other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit www. creators.com.

Copyright 2021 by JFS Productions Inc.

“We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called ‘Opportunity’ and its first chapter is New Year’s Day.” — Edith Lovejoy Pierce life itself.

Although Robert Burns wrote that “Painters and poets have liberty to lie,” it appears that he did not take that liberty when recording “Auld Land Syne” since it captures my memories and probably those of the royal family: Does it capture yours?

As I write this waiting for the ball to drop in Times Square, let’s honor a final memory from the poem: And there’s a hand my trusty fri end!

And give us a hand o’ thine!

And we’ll take a right good-will draught for good old times.

Brent E. Zepke is an attorney, arbitrator and author who lives in Santa Barbara. Formerly he taught at six universities and numerous professional conferences. He is the author of six books: “One HeartTwo Lives,” “Legal Guide to Human Resources,” “Business Statistics,” “Labor Law,” “Products and the Consumer,” and “Law for NonLawyers.”

MARCHAND

Continued from Page C2

from a deluge of FOIA requests if it was simply more transparent in its agency oversight reports.

Unfortunately, any quick trip to the inspector general’s website reveals the liberal use of black ink to smudge out critical information about agency operations and finances.

Clearly, the U.S. Postal Service has a deep-seated problem in opening up to the public (and other government agencies) about its issues. It certainly

is not too late for Postmaster General DeJoy to launch a new transparency initiative that would decrease FOIA denials and fully explain all of its experimental programs.

If agency leadership refuses to act, though, Congress may need to get involved and force the U.S. Postal Service’s hand. Americans might reasonably expect (some) secrecy from the government’s national security agencies, but not from America’s mail carrier.

The Center Square, a nonprofit dedicated to journalism, provided this commentary to the News-Press.