Ellen’s Buying in Montecito: Talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who’ll host the 2007 Oscars, is in escrow to buy a 1926 Spanish Colonial Revival Montecito home designed by George Washington Smith, according to my local sources. Price for the four-acre mansion is said to $16.5 million, just below the asking price.
Guests were arriving at the Old Mission, but soon what should have been a heavenly nuptial experience turned hellish. According to a Superior Court suit filed by former Fiesta El Presidente Al Pizano and his family, they were “assailed” by Mission personnel “demanding money” and threatening to cancel the wedding if certain rules weren’t obeyed.
How to Crash: After observing many, many near-collisions at the Five Points roundabout, I’ve decided to issue some tips about how to avoid near misses and really commit some serious fender bending. First, especially if you’re coming in from Salinas Street or APS, speed into the roundabout.
Embezzler Sentenced: An embezzler does far more damage than just sneak-stealing money. She can wreck businesses and turn victims’ lives into a nightmare.
Barney gets to the bottom of why Leah Etling resigned, how Elements chef Paul Becking is celebrating Bo Diddley’s Monday show, and where to go to support the 23 and counting News-Pressers who’ve left the building.
The Harder They Fall: Len Wood, soft-spoken, highly respected Santa Barbara News-Press photo chief, gave notice Monday, according to sources, which attributed it in part to the ongoing Michael Todd/Ana Elisa Fuentes dispute.
Barney discusses Ronald Reagan’s burial place and an intriguing stone pyramid, both topics in the recently released book about the Santa Barbara Cemetery called The Best Last Place.
Well-informed sources tell me that two more News-Press staffers have flown the coop to greener pastures. That, along with the departure of sports copy desk staffer Kim Burnell, who fled Tuesday, makes a total of 19 newsroom denizens who have resigned since early July.
Author Doing 45 Years: I wasn’t optimistic about being allowed to interview Lompoc federal prisoner Michael G. Santos, but I tried anyway. Result: denial.
This, I was told by Lompoc prison’s Public Information Officer Erwin Meinberg, was “due to safety and security concerns.” Concerns for my safety? I asked.
News-Press newsroom staffers will vote on forming a union September 26-unless new hurdles loom. There are 37 reporters, photographers, editors, and others eligible to vote, union leaders said at a press conference today, September 5, at Storke Placita, adding that they are confident of approval of more than the necessary 50 percent plus one.
