Letter to the Editor
The Bethania Preschool and
After School is most appreciative of the grant it received this spring from The
Valley Foundation to assist in providing partial scholarships for working
families with financial needs.In 2006-07 we provided
significant financial assistance to children from five different families and
these funds will help families with tuition in the fall of the 2007-08 school
year.
Now completing its twentieth year, Bethania Preschool and After School offers two fully state
licensed year round programs to 140-145 children each year. The Preschool
provides classes to children at least two and a half through five years old.
The After School provides before and after school care during the school year,
with flexible days and hours, from 7:30-8:30 a.m. and 12 noon to 6 p.m. This
expands to full-day care during the summer.
It is The Valley Foundation and supportive local
individuals and businesses who make it possible for us to offer this quality
education and child care to families throughout the Valley.
Thank you.
-Barbara Hallum,
President Bethania Preschool and After School Board
The Nature of Valley Generosity
Saturday, July 14th was livestock auction day at the
Santa Barbara County Fair in
Auction day is always exciting and fulfilling as the
assembled 4H’ers and FFA’ers finally see
the success of their dedication and hard work as they are greeted on the sale
platform by an auction barn filled with caring and generous bidders - all there
to support these fine young people. This past Saturday evening we were witness
to an incredible display of generosity that went way beyond what anyone could
have expected. One of the young 4H participants from the Lucky Clover chapter
in Los Olivos had been seriously injured in a horse
accident several weeks before Fair. Ashlee Shelly, daughter of Tommy and Cathy
Shelly of Los Olivos, had suffered a serious back
injury and after a number of surgeries is still looking at weeks and months of
rehab and occupational therapy. Enter the unique and remarkable people of the
horse and cattle culture of the Santa Ynez Valley. Knowing young Ashlee would
not be able to show her lamb, a groundswell of concern and generosity from
friends and professionals started collecting money to help her with her medical
expenses by creating a fund to purchase her lamb during auction night. That
night, before the auction, no one really knew exactly how much had been raised,
so late in the evening, the moment came when Ashlee’s lamb was brought
out onto the sale platform.
Auctioneer Rick Machado prepped the crowd and then started the bidding
at $10.00 a pound. The auction barn, filled to standing room only in
anticipation of the moment, became witness to an awe-inspiring scene. As the
bidding climbed over $500 a pound, spectators and bidders alike were brought to
their feet, applauding louder and louder, as the numbers went higher. $600,
$700 – on it went with the whistles and roar of the crowd urging the
bidding forward.
When the gavel finally came down, the tote board
read - $1021.00 a pound. Within a matter of minutes the room had bid over
$130,000 for a little lamb, all to help in the recovery of a special young
lady. As the applause finally subsided, there wasn’t a dry eye in the
barn. That night, we witnessed love and generosity in full bloom in a little
auction barn in
-Bill Reynolds, Solvang
Dear Editor,
I had the great
privilege of visiting Beautiful Buellton last week. Unfortunately, I have
been having difficulty with a very sore back and my vacation was being ruined
due to the pain. I visited Radiance Tanning Salon on McMurray right as you
enter town from the freeway. I decided to get an Infrared Body Wrap, this body wrap did wonders for my back
muscles. The store owner, Dede Hatch, explained
to me that this body wrap was allowing my body to release toxins.
It greatly relaxed my muscles and I was able to enjoy the rest of my
vacation. I strongly recommend if you have a sore back, this is so much
better than a massage. Try it. I am so thankful I did!!!!
-Jody
Tyndall,
What Has Sheriff Bill Brown Done?
Bill Brown
has been Sheriff for over six months now – what has he done to fulfill
all those “promises” he made during the campaign?
The
biggest issue he pounded on during his campaign was how he would change the
Sheriffs Council. He promised that he could reorganize it and change its
leadership.
Since we
haven’t seen any reports about a miraculous recovery over at the Sheriffs
Council, I can only surmise that Brown can’t fulfill this promise.
The membership of this non-profit group is less than twenty-five percent of
what it was before Brown began his campaign and it doesn’t appear to be
gathering any renewed interest.
He claims
that “he secured” $950k to refurbish a helicopter; however, his
predecessor and the previous Council President, who he criticized during the
campaign, had this deal sealed prior to his election.
His next
promise concerned jail overcrowding and early prisoner releases; once again,
big promises but very little action. The Grand Jury just released another
report concerning jail overcrowding and it is just as critical as all the other
reports for the last 30-years. The arrival of Brown as Sheriff
hasn’t changed anything over at the jail – it’s still
overcrowded and prisoners are still being released early.
In fact
Brown had to request a budget revision on June 15th because “increased
inmate populations, higher food costs, and increased transportation needs have
outstripped the department budgeted resources.” In short, this
means the problem appears to be getting worse, not better on Brown’s
watch.
All of the
progress of his successor seems to have stalled as Brown attempts to put his
stamp on the issue. His promise in campaign literature and recent public
statements was to “Develop an interim overcrowding plan – a new
jail is at least 5 years away!”
Well, a
jail has been “5-years away” for three decades now and it’s
probably no coincidence that the timeframe politician Brown picked is just
beyond the next election. That way he can’t be held accountable by
voters’ when he fails.
His
current plan seems short of the campaign promises he made to “Accept all
felony and misdemeanor suspects for booking from Department and other agency
personnel”. Hundreds of misdemeanor suspects still are not booked
into the jail; they are cited and released just as the policy has been for
decades.
Upgrading
the
The State
Assembly recently adopted AB900 to authorize construction of more jail
space. There are provisions that would allow the County to construct a
new jail just so long as they could come up with 25% of the cost (about
$40-million). Just who would pay for the staff to operate the jail is not
clear in the text of this bill.
Then there
was the “staffing issue” which it turns out was apparently resolved
prior to the campaign. Brown requested a budget revision on June 15th
because “The salaries and benefits budget adopted for the Sheriff's
Department for FY2006-07 anticipated the filling of many of the positions
vacant in the department. However, the Sheriff's department Human
Resources unit was much more successful than anticipated, reducing vacancies
dramatically during FY2006-07”.
Oh, those
“management issues” that he promised to fix, well the same
management team is in place today that was in place the day he took the oath of
office. Apparently, there weren’t any problems that needed to be
fixed or he would have swept the old team out and replaced them.
So, all
those “issues” that voters thought were good reasons to elect Bill
Brown appear to have been nothing but smoke and mirrors. As I said
before, the “new direction” that he promised appears to be status
quo.
-Ron
Fink,
Response to Ron,
Whoa there, Ron! You have pretty big expectations for Sheriff Brown when
he’s only been in office for six months. As you know, the Sheriff’s
Council meltdown was very complicated and diminished the confidence that
contributors had in it. Rebuilding an organization like that, which funded some
of the things the officers needed that the Board of Supervisors wouldn’t,
takes time. As you yourself noted, building a new jail has been on the books
for thirty years because of the lack of money or will to build it. To blame the
current Sheriff is unreasonable. Let’s give the new Sheriff adequate time
to rearrange his staff, appeal to the funding sources, all the while dealing
with everyday crime. Change doesn’t happen overnight.
-NCH
Dear Publisher Nancy Crawford-Hall
I am sending you this letter as an observation
regarding the piece by Ms. Crawford in the July 6th edition of On the Ranch.
Ms. Crawford, I have been following your paper off an on for a few months and
seem to recall when you bought it that you promoted the fact that the
"New" Valley Journal would publish the facts and not really have a
personal agenda. However, I have noticed over the course of these months that
it is very clear were you stand politically (Both on a
national and local level). You also seem to have no problem using this
Newspaper as a means for stating your points of view which seems contradictory
since you very clearly stated that this would not be the case. On numerous
occasions these Newspaper has "reported" on the activities of the
Chumash Indian Tribe and their Casino as well as all Indian Tribes and their
political activities in
Furthermore, your Newspaper should give a clearer
picture of all the various groups that make up our society. As
owner of a Newspaper in “Your Valley" you really have a higher
responsibility than most. While most of us can get away with chitchat,
that is light and informal conversation suited for social occasions, your
Newspaper cannot if it's to be taken seriously. As long as it remains partial
to any one thought process and or agenda it will remain just another simple
local tabloid.
-Sincerely, Gabriel Rocha
Response to Gabriel
First of all, Ms. Rocha, my last name is Crawford-Hall,
not Crawford and the piece I write, ON THE RANCH is based on my fifty years of
experience in this Valley. You have no idea where I stand politically but I
will tell you now because you are interested. I have contempt for all
politicians who take an oath to support the Constitution and the laws of the
land and then proceed to ignore them. I bought the Journal because none of the
other papers in the County, in my opinion, were covering local topics in an
unbiased manner and in fact often reported falsehoods or misinformation leading
the local citizenry to be ill- or uninformed.
Also, I am of the belief that if the general public
had a better understanding of agriculture and how it is important to their
everyday lives, perhaps, some of the bad legislation would no longer occur. I
write an opinion column, my reporters write the news events that are impartial.
I am respectful of all of the residents of this Valley equally and my
responsibility is to tell the truth.
-NCH
Healthy Pets
This bill came to be one of the most emotionally
charged pieces of legislation in recent times, with both sides using very
inflammatory rhetoric. I am a dog trainer and also a shelter volunteer so I
have first hand knowledge of both sides. No one will deny that we euthanize way
too many animals so my first response to this bill was favorable. But that was
short lived. The bill has been tabled until January. Meanwhile, cool, level
heads need to work on a proposal that would be more acceptable to both sides.
Some thoughts on both sides: Pro mandatory spay and
neuter: We need to reduce the number of puppies and kittens that are born, many
of whom have to be euthanized. Note. In LA County that number has been greatly
reduced in recent years for puppies, due to aggressive push to spay and neuter.
However, the number of kittens is still a large problem.
Perhaps, if people cannot readily get puppies, they
will adopt older dogs. Right now a large budget is needed to care for the
numbers of dogs and cats that do not have homes.
Against Mandatory Spay and Neuter: The California
Veterinary Medical Association changed its stance from supportive to neutral.
There is evidence showing that early spaying and neutering has negative health
repercussions in later life. People want puppies (since I primarily work with
dogs, I will direct my responses here to dogs). When puppies are available at
the shelter, they are the first to go. If the bill in its last form had passed,
the sources for puppies would have been, pet shops, purchasing from out of
state and getting from local people who have not spayed their dog. Pet shops
obtain many of their puppies from puppy mills that breed purely for profit
without regard to the health or care of the breeding dogs or the puppies. Many
of these puppies require extensive veterinary care and are never completely
healthy. They are also very difficult to housetrain as they have lived only in
filth and many are fearful, since early socialization was lacking. If dogs are
purchased out of state, it is harder to access the type of puppy you are
getting without being able to meet the parents.
There are many responsible breeders that breed for
profit but also for the many service organizations. We should not have the
right to put them out of business. I would like to see our energies and
resources go to: 1.) heavily regulating the puppy mills 2.) Stopping the sale of puppies
and kittens in pet shops or insuring that all are checked for health and
temperament. 3.) Educating children in the need for spay and neuter and that pets are not disposable items. The use of seat belts
really only happened when the kids got after their parents. Every 4th grade
class should have to visit their local shelter and understand what happens to
unwanted puppies/dogs and kittens/cats.
-Laurie King