Selma Rubin Saves El Capitan Canyon!! (37 Years Ago)
A trail is dedicated to Selma in a weekend event that celebrated saving the coast.
Year: 2007
High Toll on Homeless
Two traffic fatalities involving homeless men last week brought the number of homeless people who were either killed or died on the South Coast this year to 16. The most recent fatality was Hugo Herrera Aguilera-a 62-year-old deaf-mute man from Mexico who typically wore a welding mask, a coonskin cap, heavy coats, and knee pads.
Judge Leaning Against Indy in NP Copyright Violation Case
A year-almost to the day-after Santa Barbara News-Press management filed a lawsuit against The Independent, the two sides met in court October 30 to face the music in the form of a tentative ruling by U.S. District Judge Edward Rafeedie. In contrast to the News-Press’s poor record in court proceedings up to this point in 2007, Rafeedie seemed to be leaning toward the daily’s side.
Sheriffs Train in ‘Restorative Justice’
Nine deputies with the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department underwent four days of intensive training in “restorative justice,” an alternative to the traditional “catch ’em, bail ’em, and jail ’em” approach to criminal justice. The training-led by New Zealander Allan MacRae-focused on techniques that bring juvenile offenders and their families together with the victims of the offenders’ crimes, forcefully acquainting juvenile defendants with the human impact of their actions, in hopes that they will not offend again.
No Open Seats Make for Tight Squeeze in Santa Barbara City Race
Many political handicappers regard the upcoming November 6 Santa Barbara City Council election as mere foreplay for the main event: the anticipated showdown between councilmembers Iya Falcone and Helene Schneider over who will replace Marty Blum as Santa Barbara’s next mayor.
Racial Discrimination, Excess Force Alleged in 2006 Altercation
The City of Santa Barbara was served last week with a lawsuit filed on behalf of two former UCSB students alleging racial discrimination and civil rights violations during an incident outside Cooney’s bar in 2006. The suit, filed in U.S. District Court on June 26, names 16 law enforcement officers from the Santa Barbara Police Department, as well as Chief Cam Sanchez and 10 unidentified defendants.
Budget Guru Resigns Amid School District Money Woes
The fallout from the Santa Barbara School District’s ongoing money mystery continued last week as Assistant Superintendent of Business Services Ed Diaz unexpectedly stepped down from his post. Diaz’s decision to quit after only 11 months on the job is an eyebrow-raising development in a district that is struggling to explain how the board went from making more than $2 million in supposedly necessary program cuts this past spring to having an apparent multimillion-dollar surplus just a few months later.
Liberian Activist Kimmie Weeks Discusses African Aid
Kimmie Weeks spent much of the civil war that shook the prospering West African nation of Liberia, beginning in 1989, in a sprawling refugee camp where he contracted severe cholera and nearly died. He was 10 years old at the time. Not long thereafter, Weeks began working to stem poverty, hunger, and the use of child soldiers in Liberia. In 1999 he was forced to seek political asylum in the U.S. after death threats from the government of then dictator Charles Taylor.
ThisWeekinHistory
November 1, 1512
Michelangelo’s ceiling fresco in Rome’s Sistine Chapel opens to the public.
Wilderness Art Contest
The Wildling Art Museum is hosting an art competition called Endangered Species: Flora and Fauna in Peril, and the winners will be exhibited at the Los Olivos museum in summer 2008. The contest is open to any artist living in the United States or abroad, so see wildlingmuseum.org for details. The deadline is November 30.
