Barney Brantingham, Author at The Santa Barbara Independent

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Thu Oct 04, 2007 | 6:00am

Three Bethany Nuns
Get To Stay in Town

We’re Longfellows: Santa Barbara is the longest continuously occupied site of human habitation in the Western hemisphere, claims City Councilmember Brian Barnwell. At his reelection campaign party Monday night at Eos Lounge, Barnwell said that while others who crossed the Bering Straits moved from place to place, the Chumash arrived here about 15,000 years ago and put down roots. And the spot of the first Chumash village is Burton Mound, near West Beach, Barnwell said. It is now the site of a large apartment complex.

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Mon Oct 01, 2007 | 2:32pm

Nuns Avoid Exile

The Sisters of Bethany can stay in Santa Barbara.

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Fri Sep 28, 2007 | 12:17pm

The News-Press Waiting Game

Barney ponders which will come first: the decision about Wendy McCaw’s fired reporters or a Dodger playoff win.

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Thu Sep 27, 2007 | 6:00am

Homage to Ken and Maggie Millar

Ross’s Goodbye Look: As I prowled the tile-floored S.B. Courthouse corridors one day in the early 1960s, two friendly, smiling faces popped up before me. I had no idea who they were, but they seemed to know me. I was baffled but pretended to recognize them. And I should have. They were Santa Barbara’s most famous husband-and-wife writing team, Ken (Ross Macdonald) and Margaret Millar.

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Tue Sep 25, 2007 | 11:16am

The Day of Two Million

After vacationing in Arizona, Barney wonders about the rising prices and shrinking space in Santa Barbara.

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Mon Sep 17, 2007 | 1:55pm

Sisters Banned From City

The Sisters of Bethany are forced to vacate their Eastside convent and relocate somewhere outside of Santa Barbara.

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Fri Sep 14, 2007 | 6:00am

Housing Sales Rise as Real Estate Prices Soar

While Southern California home prices fall like lead, Santa Barbara’s dirt is turning to gold.

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Thu Sep 13, 2007 | 6:00am

The Joker and the Thief

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.”

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Tue Sep 11, 2007 | 6:00am

Save the Eastside’s Sisters of Bethany

Barney reports on the campaign is to save the nuns and about meeting Daniel Radcliffe, finding Al Steinman, and supporting Wendy McCaw.

Opinion By Barney Brantingham | Fri Sep 07, 2007 | 8:00am

Vets Sue the States

Meanwhile, Santa Barbara restaurant news abounds.