Outrage

I keep hearing outrage on the part of local residents regarding the incident on Highway 154 resulting in the death of one of our favorite people. They are outraged that it happened; they are outraged that more than one person was hit and injured; and they are outraged at what they feel was the horribly inadequate bail set for the young woman who allegedly caused this wreck. Rumors of her response to the question, “I hope you know what you’ve done,” being reported as a shrug of the shoulders and a grunt while being released aren’t helping people to feel better about the situation. Some have asked who the judge was who allowed such a low bail, but this information is being kept very quiet. I personally find it rather ridiculous that $10,000 was all that was required to be paid (10 percent of the $100,000 bail) when so many crimes were committed, including two accidents, one of which resulted in death, running from the scene of the crime, fleeing from law enforcement and perhaps other offenses as well as possibly driving drunk.

 

On the heels of this event is a report the following weekend of another drunk driver killing someone in Santa Maria. Then, a day later, there is a report of 11 wineries being checked for serving underage minors with four being cited. What is going on here? It seems as though we have lost control of our county, at least as far as drinking and driving goes, along with the ability to have adequate law enforcement available to deal with those who would offend. I recognize the authority and ability of establishments to serve alcoholic beverages, but where is the responsibility? On a societal level, it seems that parents and people in general have abdicated all responsibility toward others, even their own children. There are laws here that are meant to be followed, and not just by the chosen few, but, time and time again, I see exceptions being made. There are so many excuses now offered to courts around the country that even a “Twinkie” defense is available for murder. How crazy is that?

 

In our small community, issues such as these are magnified because so many people know each other and may have had some level of contact with the victim. In large cities, on the other hand, the incidents largely remain unspectacular, with all the people involved anonymous. Friends I visited with recently, who have lived in the valley a dozen years, asked me if things have changed so much during my life here. As I have written before, yes, the changes are enormous, and not all of them are bad. I find many new people have the same love for their surroundings as I do, which is why they moved here. They like the slower pace of life here and are willing to give up the 24-hour stores, streetlights — and they don’t mind the drive to Santa Maria or Santa Barbara to find some of the bigger stores offered there.

 

So where is the motivation for the Social Host Ordinance, which was going to be discussed at the Board of Supervisors last week? It was postponed to their meeting on May 20. Please weigh in on this topic with your supervisor lest you fall prey to this very intrusive legislation. This ordinance would shift responsibility for underage drinking to property owners rather than where it properly belongs — the parents. So if you own an apartment building and someone in the building serves minors and someone gets in an accident, they would come after you, presumably the deep pockets here. I can’t for the life of me understand the rationale of this proposed ordinance, as it makes absolutely no sense to me. It’s one thing for an individual to serve someone underage and then be held responsible for law enforcement issues following that, but to make someone who was not present and had nothing to do with the event responsible looks very suspicious to me. So is this the new “get the landowner” approach the county wants to take? If so, we residents have some serious changes to make.

A year ago I found three vehicles parked on the side of the highway together. I was on my way to a county meeting but I stopped because the ranch was on both sides of the road and I was worried that someone was in trouble. A gentleman approached my car and asked if he could be of assistance, to which I replied who I was and offered my assistance. He explained that these were some undercover law enforcement agents who had just arrested an individual who claimed to have bought drugs at the casino and that he was meeting his friends in my 1,000 acre pasture to enjoy them, and that they had done this before.

I was horrified when I heard them, and wished them luck and offered whatever assistance I could as far as opening gates, etc. They seemed to have the situation well in hand and I left them to complete their job. I went on to my meeting in Solvang and explained to the audience why I had been late. So am I to be made responsible as the owner of the land for these kids’ behavior? I think not!

How silly!

 

Fire Season

Every year, when it becomes obvious that no more rain is forthcoming and the grass has dried to a golden brown, I begin my vigil for fire safety. Last year we all had a horrible reminder of how awful full scale forest fires can be. Night after night the news across the nation was filled with pictures of people’s homes south of us burning, destroying lifetimes of memories, mementoes and family keepsakes. I cannot begin to imagine how horrible that must be. The closest I ever came to that was when my mother’s car burned up in the attached garage and we were worried that the entire house would go. One doesn’t even have time to think about what to save, so it pays to be prepared.

In the fifties, a huge fire went through the valley. I remember looking at it from the Santa Barbara side from my bedroom window, the mountain glowing red at night. It was frightening. I feared for the ranch, the cows, the wildlife — but, miraculously, the fire went right around the ranch and never touched it. Then there was the fire that raced down the Santa Barbara side and crossed Highway 101. One person died and many homes and businesses were destroyed. My father was the last person to be allowed to go down the pass before it was closed.

 

In addition to the firebugs that seem to live in this area that law enforcement can’t seem to catch, we have an increasing number of newcomers who either have little common sense or just don’t think, which increases the risk for all of us. Yesterday when I went past the Park-and-Ride at Highways 154 and 246 I saw three vehicles parked in the high dry grass. I couldn’t believe my eyes! I presume they did this because there was not enough room for them to park in the regular paved spots, but as far as I am concerned, it was really thoughtless for them to do so. A piece of dry grass touching their tailpipe or catalytic converter will spark a fire which the prevailing wind will push across the highway and burn lots of ground, and possibly animals also. Please use some sense when you park your vehicles during the dry season so you don’t cause a catastrophe.

It is also important to have preparations IN ADVANCE made for not only your most precious belongings but all of your animals as well. They depend on you for everything, including their rescue should that come to pass. I keep cages set up with food close by, each cage with a label indicating who goes in what for all the dogs and cats. We have all of the horses, including mares with foals by their sides, yearlings, stallions, general ranch horses, with a written plan as to who goes where, what trailer, who to call for assistance should the horrible happen. The cows will be moved if time permits or gates will be opened on the ranch (not to the highway!) to allow them to escape to safer ground. I would hope that your situation is a bit less complex, but it is just as important that you practice your plan and make sure that you have one before you need it. Then you can wait like I do and hope another year passes without having to deal with that sort of event. Here’s hoping!

 

 

Choices

Aren’t we lucky that we have an opportunity to choose our leaders? When you think about it, there aren’t many countries in the world that give their citizens the choices that we have. No one stands over you with a submachine gun while you insert your ballot into a box which will be rifled through later to accomplish the desired result. I am not naïve enough to think that there aren’t some dirty deals that go down in the U.S., but they certainly aren’t on the scale of many other countries. In fact, there are many countries where there is only one choice on that ballot, and if you don’t vote for that individual, you’re in big trouble with authorities.

By now, many of you already may have filled out your absentee ballots, as I have, but I had a thought I would like to share with you. It appears that every level of government these days is in debt up to their proverbial ears. How did it get that way? Don’t you have to balance your checkbook regularly to make sure that you have enough money to pay your bills? I know I do. In addition, as a business owner I have a payroll to meet, meaning that those people who work for me would like to have a check from me every now and then which, in turn, makes it possible for them to pay their bills. In order for me to give them those checks, I must have the income to put into those checks. If I have no money, I cannot pay my employees.

 

You may wonder why I’m talking about this kind of simple stuff, but it seems that there are a lot of people who don’t get some really important relationships in life, like you have to have money to pay employees. I know this very well because I sign the front of the check — employees sign the back. I must make sure I have the money before I can write the check out, sign my name to the front and hand it to my employee. I keep reading about people being described as “business types” or “pro-business,” like those were dirty words or somehow negative. I would suggest that perhaps if we elected more “business types” to office instead of lawyers we might be able to balance our budgets. After all, lawyers (and I know some very nice ones) know how to bill the clients for the firm but they don’t know how to balance the budget or how to provide enough income to pay payroll, i.e. their paychecks. Think about it, if you haven’t voted yet. Do we really need another bunch of phonies? I think we’ve done that enough, and where has that gotten us? We need someone not beholden to the past, someone who can think for themselves who actually knows how to listen and is transparent. There’s really only one choice.