Gas-Guzzler Thief: If you can afford to drive a super-sized luxury Caddy SUV, do you care about the cost of filling the guzzler’s tank? And if you do, do you take the risk of siphoning gas, stealing it like a street punk? Maybe so, because Santa Barbara attorney Jim Heinrich told me how he “came face-to-face with how hard the gas crunch must be hitting some of our citizens.”
ASK MR. BROOKS: I know that in some circles Supervisor Brooks Firestone couldn’t buy a friend. But I’ve always liked the guy. Admittedly, I’m a sucker for Brooks’s patrician enthusiasm, his congenial affability that masks a cold, steely will. How could I be expected to resist someone who informs you, as Brooks recently did me, “Despite your little, twisted mind, I enjoy speaking to you.”
• The Teddy Bear Cancer Foundation hosts its second annual luncheon to benefit children’s post-cancer emotional recovery on Tuesday, September 18, at 11 a.m. at the Four Seasons Biltmore (1260 Channel Dr.). Guest speakers include best-selling author, cancer survivor, and celebrity mom Betty DeGeneres, as well as Dr. Daniel Greenfield, Cottage Children’s Hospital’s medical director of pediatric oncology. Call 962-7466 to RSVP.
There were lots of shiny things on the opening night of high school football: the lights at Valley Stadium, the brass band instruments, the golden helmets of the Dos Pueblos Chargers, and the foil-wrapped tri-tip sandwiches, a meal that never fails to satisfy.
Santa Barbara-based Internet content management software publisher Solid Oak Software announced a new technology for its CYBERsitter program.
The new building at 6504 Trigo Road will replace the existing Isla Vista Foot Patrol station on Pardall Road.
Shrimp is perhaps a cook’s favorite blank canvas as it brings great flavor and texture to any party, working well in everything from tacos to pasta. A compilation of shrimp recipes would be far from shrimpy, but that doesn’t mean you need to get all fancy-schmancy with a Pernod pink peppercorn cream sauce (which is actually pretty easy and incredibly delicious, but we’ll save that for another day). Instead, here’s a simple way to liven up any picnic. This recipe serves four as a main course.
On September 29, the Santa Barbara Book & Author Festival, now in its ninth year, will be honored with the presence of California Poet Laureate Al Young. The poet will present work from his new book to be released October 1, Something About the Blues: An Unlikely Collection of Poetry (Sourcebooks), and will also be presented with the Glenna Luschei Distinguished Poet Fellowship.
A new pedestrian bridge in Montecito opened 9/13, replacing a temporary bridge installed two years ago.
I told everyone I was taking a “sabbatical” in Paris. As soon as I was snuggled into my window seat on Air France, I began to wonder why I needed to describe my month-long stay in France in such exalted terms. In truth, I was really just wanting to defy the benchmark of turning 60 by doing something I had always wanted to do as a younger man-live in Paris-if only for a month.
