|
NEIGHBORHOOD REPORTS & COLUMNISTS
|
| |
 |
Aug 09, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Solvang Library
The Solvang Library opened in 1964, and is ready for a makeover. |
| |
 |
Jul 26, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Taliban Prisoner Has Deep SYV Roots
Bowdrie Bergdahl, the soldier captured by the Taliban, has a long family history in Santa Ynez. His mother attended valley schools from kindergarten through high school. |
| |
 |
Jul 12, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Aerial Photos of the Santa Ynez Valley
William Etling took a helicopter ride above the Valley to take pictures. He flew over Neverland, didn't see a casket, and was sent home like a t-shirt vendor. |
| |
 |
Jun 28, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YENZ
Michael Jackson Dead At 50
The Neverland saga in Santa Ynez ended with a whimper this week as a few baffled fans straggled out to the ranch Michael Jackson once loved. |
| |
 |
Jun 21, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Farm Photos
There is a tomb raider feeling when entering a big barn. Mysterious shafts of mote-speckled sunshine lighting warm, smooth wood, dusty antiques forgotten in spider-webbed recesses, scents of hay and harvest.
|
| |
 |
May 29, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Running on Empty: Water In the West
Persons who wish to drink, eat or bathe in the future are invited to a lecture by James Lawrence Powell, who will discuss water supply, climate change, and drought in the Southwest. |
| |
 |
May 15, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Lompoc Photos
There is a refreshing lack of pretension in Lompoc, a town where the only gated community is the federal penitentiary. |
| |
 |
May 01, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
To Mom, With Love
Officially Mother's Day is the 10th, but I don't have a column that day, so I'm giving you a head start here, go pick a bouquet. |
| |
 |
Apr 17, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
La Purísima Mission
Today we are on a mission. A photo mission, at the most fully reconstructed of the magnificent mudpiles, Misión La Purísima Concepción De María Santísima. |
| |
 |
Apr 03, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Poppies
The poppies on Grass Mountain have never really matched the stunning spectacle they hosted after the fire in 1991, but they're still putting on a show. |
| |
 |
Mar 20, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Surf Beach
Surf Beach may not be your own private train station, but it feels like it. The train stopped by the cold, blustery beach with a concrete kiosk and automated ticket dispenser to let off just one lonely passenger on a recent Monday. |
| |
 |
Mar 06, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Channelling Miss Lonelyhearts
Real news is a lot of work, so I am trying out a column of advice to the lovelorn plus household hints, diet tips, grammar lessons, and six-pack ab exercises.
|
| |
 |
Feb 20, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Snow Day Snaps
Here are a few photos from the recent snow. |
| |
 |
Feb 06, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
149 Casino Arrests in 2008
Luckytown it wasn't for 149 gamblers arrested at the Chumash Casino in 2008. Deputies know when to hold 'em. |
| |
 |
Jan 23, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
How Far We Have Traveled
A tiny black child, not more than five, approached me on a shabby street. "White honky pig," the youngster intoned contemptuously. |
| |
 |
Jan 09, 2009
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Going Green
A walk about the ranch gives glimpses of shimmering grass in the morning meadow, vivid velcro, pubescent poppies, birds bathing in the stream, epiphytes that haven't gotten with the program. (Photos) |
| |
 |
Dec 26, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Ghosts of Christmas Past
When William Etling was a little kid growing up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, his parents had him convinced that Santa did everything himself. |
| |
 |
Dec 12, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Return of the Deadly Sweater Festival
Quick, seek out an outlandish, Xmas-themed woolen garment! For you are invited to the Deadly Syndrome's annual Christmas Sweater Festival, where such cozy couture is de rigueur. |
| |
 |
Nov 28, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Cold Spring Toll Hits 47
Forty-seven suicides later, we're still discussing aesthetics. For me, forty-seven funerals trumps aesthetics. |
| |
 |
Nov 14, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Neverland Never More
When his company bailed Michael Jackson out of foreclosure with a refinance of a twenty-three million dollar debt in May, insiders predicted it was only a matter of time before Tom Barrack took over the keys to the ranch. |
| |
 |
Oct 31, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
The Eagle Hunters
Richard Lindekens' latest expedition was to the Mongolian desert, where Attila the Hun and Ghingis Khan lived and fought. |
| |
 |
Oct 17, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
A Day In The Country
Grab the boots and Stetson. You are invited to Los Olivos for the 28th annual Day In The Country, on Saturday, October 18. |
| |
 |
Oct 03, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
When Love Becomes Obsession
My first guitar was a cheap, black-cherry sunburst six-string, bought off the wall of a music store in the Thruway Shopping Center in Winston-Salem, NC. It was 1965, and I was 12. |
| |
 |
Sep 19, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Have Goat, Will Travel
What has 1200 legs, eats acres of shrubbery, and is full of cement? Answer: 300 brush goats. I just threw in the cement to make it harder. |
| |
 |
Sep 05, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Danish Days In Solvang
What was it like to be an early settler in Solvang? The first wave of Danes came to a treeless plain as dry and dusty in summer as a lunar landscape. |
| |
 |
Aug 22, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Rancho De Los Olivos
About 128 years ago, sometime around 1880, on a bluff overlooking Alamo Pintado Creek, just north of the tiny town of Ballard, a house was underway. |
| |
 |
Aug 08, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Day in the Life of a Realtor
A brief history of time: the dinosaurs roamed the prehistoric world. They died, fell into swamps, and turned into unleaded gasoline. Realtors then evolved, to use up the gas. |
| |
 |
Jul 25, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Young Writer Workshops
Gerald DiPego has staged readings of his recent short stories "Lake Town Dead," and "Reunion" at various venues in the Santa Ynez Valley, where he lives with his wife, Christine. |
| |
 |
Jul 11, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Santa Ynez Valley Plan
You could think of the Santa Ynez Valley Community Plan revision process as a baseball game that's taken nine years to get to the ninth inning. Along the way, brawls in the infield have stopped the game, some players have switched teams, and despite three and a half years on the mound, 3rd District Supervisor Brooks Firestone has not been able to pitch a shutout. |
| |
 |
Jun 27, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Solvang on Sale, Library News
The Santa Ynez Valley Visitors Association has announced a 10% savings offer rewarding mid-week summer visitors. |
| |
 |
Jun 13, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Opportunity Knocks
A new ABC television game show called Opportunity Knocks, airing Tuesdays this fall, is actively seeking a central coast family to participate in a G-rated game show that literally knocks on your door. |
| |
 |
May 30, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Globetrotting Photographer
"I got into this wild animal photography about four years ago, because I knew I was going to retire, and I wanted something to do. Now I'm traveling all over the world doing it," - Richard Lindekens. |
| |
 |
May 16, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Help A Legacy of Love Live On
I've written about the Rio Beni Project before. This worthy cause has entered a new phase, as detailed below. Numerous local students have also helped out on the annual educational safaris associated with the project, now in their sixth year. |
| |
 |
May 02, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Jean-Pierre Got
Nostalgic for the pre-war Belle Epoque? Does the graceful Art Deco era of F. Scott Fitzgerald and the Chrysler Building stylized spire rock your world? Jean-Pierre Got art is for you. |
| |
 |
Apr 18, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Going, Going, Gone, Maybe
The auction was stuffed with a rainbow coalition of All-American bargain hunters, every race, creed, color,
size, sex and shape, from early twenties to advanced age. |
| |
 |
Apr 04, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Casino Crime Stats
The Chumash Casino keeps deputies busy. Last year deputies cruised over to the casino 540 times, 229
cases were opened, and there were 159 arrests of 'one or more subjects'. |
| |
 |
Mar 21, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Figueroa Easter Bouquet
On the mountain the flowers come and go, outdoing Michelangelo, amidst garish spurs of kryptonite-
green serpentine from the spreading centers of the deepest sea, and prickly, sap-dripping, pineapple-
size cones, and a quilted carpet of dried needles so thick you could ski down the steep slopes on them. |
| |
 |
Mar 07, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Supervisor Candidates Debate
The five candidates for Brooks Firestone's slot on the SB Board of Supervisors convened at the old Bank of
America site on March 4th for their first debate. They proved thoughtful, insightful, professional, and low-
key, one and all |
| |
 |
Feb 22, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Solvang Hosts The Amgen Tour
Riders faced a steep climb right out of the starting block in the heart of storybook Solvang, grinding 200
vertical feet up Alisal Road in the first half-mile. A screaming descent down the back side of Alisal segued
into a long slog up Alamo Pintado Road's gentle slope. |
| |
 |
Feb 08, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Interview With Steve Pappas
Third District Supervisor Candidate Steve Pappas talks about the issues the Valley faces today, and how he will address them if elected. |
| |
 |
Jan 25, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
The Soggy Bottom Boys - Riders in the Rain
The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is conducting a two week pre-season training camp in Solvang. The
team spokesman said the weather is not a problem, as rain and a few flakes of snow were falling. |
| |
 |
Jan 11, 2008
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
There Will Be Crud - Attack of the Tar Baby
Gooey black blobs, some several feet in length, were still everywhere in the creekbed, under the sweeping limbs of majestic live oaks. Bubbling crude. Black gold. Texas tea. |
| |
 |
Dec 28, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Xmas Sweater Festival
I was really on stage, under a hazy rainbow of candy colored lights, in front of about 400 boisterous,
inebriated lunatics, all wearing the most outrageous Christmas sweaters ever seen this side of the
Salvation Army. |
| |
 |
Dec 14, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Vengeance Is Mine
Ms. Di Sieno has maintained and operated a rehabilitation facility for injured and orphaned fawns, deer, and other large mammals for seven years, raising more than 70 orphaned fawns, plus cats, foxes, coyotes and more. |
| |
 |
Nov 30, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Who Killed Our Cat?
Did your kids kill our cat with their pellet gun? Please talk to them. |
| |
 |
Nov 16, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Foreclosure Sales
William Etling went to a foreclosure sale once. It was a gorgeous, glorious Santa Barbara day. Burgeoning blossoms sweet perfume hung in the thick air, amid dashes of salty sea, and a whiff of tar. |
| |
 |
Nov 02, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Neverland Situation
We may be sick to death of the subject around here, but Neverland Ranch still captivates the wider world. Despite the fact that Michael Jackson is a one man Lawyers Full Employment Act, I would not plan on running over to the courthouse steps to bid on a bargain basement bungalow any time soon. |
| |
 |
Oct 19, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ VALLEY
If Iran Gets The Bomb
Dennis Ross was in Ballard on Sunday, October 15, speaking to a group of about 100 invited guests at the hilltop home of Linda and Lee Rosenberg. He leavens his somber message with humorous asides. |
| |
 |
Oct 05, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Trouble On The Chumash Hwy
On Sunday a mock tombstone appeared by the roadside on the newly anointed Chumash Highway, near the intersection with Mission Drive. By Monday afternoon, it was flat in the dirt, and the flower pots formerly at its base were scattered in all directions. It is just the latest mini-round in an old sparring match. |
| |
 |
Sep 21, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Of Saints and Sickness
For Christopher Brady, it all began with a fervent plea in his mailbox in Mozambique ... I got a letter from Lou Netzer, covered with Bolivian stamps. It said, Ive started a health project. Help! |
| |
 |
Sep 07, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
Think Globally, Eat Locally
William Etling goes on a whirlwind tour of yummy Santa Ynez Valley produce to see what it would take to restrict his diet to only local foods. |
| |
 |
Aug 24, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ
The Subpoena Man Always Rings Twice
It cannot be much fun, being a subpoena man, driving around in a snappy suit and crummy white minivan, tracking down normally nice folks who greet you with all the warmth of deranged Doberman, but that does not excuse telling out and out lies. |
| |
 |
Aug 10, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ VALLEY
Bob Dylan Croaks In Paso
Music icon Bob Dylan played the Paso Robles MidState Fair on July 27, his familiar reedy tenor reduced by time to a painful croak. Still, nobody ever went to a Dylan show expecting opera, and the end result was epic. |
| |
 |
Jul 27, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ VALLEY
Art & Exhibits
Over $11,000 in surplus funds from the 2007 Amgen Tour of California were awarded to local organizations in Solvang on Wednesday, July 25, as race organizers confirmed details of the 2008 Solvang and Santa Barbara stages. |
| |
 |
Jul 13, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ VALLEY
Deadly Syndrome Coming to Velvet Jones
The Valleys own Will Etling and his bandmates in The Deadly Syndrome, Jesse Hoy, Christopher Richard, and Mike Hughes, will play at Velvet Jones this coming Tuesday. |
| |
 |
Jun 29, 2007
NEWS FROM SANTA YNEZ VALLEY
Puppets and Ice Cream
The Solvang Library kicked off an ambitious summer schedule of weekly youth events on Thursday, June 21, with a performance by the Swazzle puppet company, followed by an ice cream social. |
| |
