Mission Possible Targets Guv

The same weekend Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger closed escrow on a property he’s bought in the Carpinteria foothills, nearly 500 people braved cool March weather to voice their opposition to his plans to close down La Pur-sima Mission State Historic Park, located just outside Lompoc. Schwarzenegger proposed cutting La Pur-sima’s funding as well as funding for many other parks statewide in response to California’s $8-billion budget deficit.

Dubbed “Mission Possible” by organizers with CoastHills Federal Credit Union, Saturday’s protest also attracted local politicos like Lompoc Mayor Dick DeWees, representatives for incumbent 4th District Supervisor Joni Gray and her challenger John Sterling, and from the offices of State Senator Abel Maldonado and Assemblymember Sam Blakeslee. The 2,000-acre park serves as prime space for Lompoc residents seeking recreation as well as a popular destination for field tripping fourth-graders from throughout the Central Coast whose teachers are hoping to convey a sense of what life was like during California’s Spanish colonial era.