Year: 2006

By Indy Staff

NEEDLE EXCHANGE CONTINUES DESPITE ACRIMONY:

County Supervisor Joni Gray, representing the conservative 5th District, was the lone vote against reauthorizing a needle-exchange program intended to keep blood-borne diseases from spreading among drug users, their sexual partners, and their babies. “I just can’t stomach it,” said Gray, referring to the prospect of appearing to condone the intravenous use of heroin and methamphetamine. “It’s just sickening, absolutely sickening,” she continued, “and I don’t want to be a part of this.”

John Paine 1935-2006
By Indy Staff

John Paine 1935-2006

Robert F. Kennedy once said, “Each time a man stands for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” When I read these inspiring words, I am reminded that I have known but a few individuals who have dedicated their lives so completely to creating these “ripples of hope.” My dearest friend John Paine was one of those individuals. John died suddenly on July 12 in Santa Barbara. The Paine family resided in the Santa Barbara and Carpinteria communities for more than 30 years.

By Lynne Simpson

El Presidente

The historical celebration of Fiesta began under the first full moon of August 82 years ago, and the warmth and

By Indy Staff

FIGHTING FRUIT FLIES:

Biologists discovered three oriental fruit fliesbactrocera dorsalisin Hope Ranch traps late last week. That brings the oriental fruit fly count to four in Santa Barbara County since the trapping program began two decades ago. The first, and until now the last, such fly was discovered in the late 1990s. County Agricultural Commissioner William Gillette speculated that the Hope Ranch flies’ larvae entered the county in fruit smuggled here from the tropics.

Living By Michael Redmon

Q: What is the story behind the Potter Hotel fire?

Q: What is the story behind the Potter Hotel fire? – Ellen Zelinsky
The opening of the Potter Hotel off West Beach in 1903 was a milestone in Santa Barbara tourism. The Potter soon eclipsed the Arlington Hotel as the top hostelry in the city and in a short time, wealthy industrialists from the Midwest and East Coast were choosing to spend their winters within the opulent confines of the Potter.

By Gerald Carpenter

Stud Fees

Despite the fact that this movie stars some of the most beautiful people in the world, and every glowing frame of it is sumptuously and exquisitely photographed, it remains a shallow, squalid fantasy of criminal violence. People shoot huge guns at each other, splattering blood, brains, and bone fragments on white or pastel walls, then hop in their “go-fast” boats and zip off to Havana for a drink and a romantic interlude.

By Indy Staff

Green Building

As the burning of fossil fuels warms the earth’s temperature and humans continue rapidly depleting global petroleum and natural gas reserves, we have found ourselves at a crossroads. Santa Barbara’s Sustainability Project is doing its part to bring such issues to light, and to examine the role that the architecture and building communities will play in creating true change.

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Cops Battle With City Over Pay

Santa Barbara city administrators have launched a facts-and-figures counterattack designed to refute claims made by the Police Officers Association (POA) in its recent media campaign to generate public support for its position in labor negotiations with City Hall. The POA declared an impasse two weeks ago, and mediation is scheduled to begin this week. Last week, the POA ran full-page ads in the Independent and Santa Barbara News-Press headlined, “Crisis at the Santa Barbara Police Department.” Those ads contended that Santa Barbara police officers were the worst paid of 12 comparable California departments, and warned that if present trends continue, the department could shrink from its current roster of 125 sworn officers to 100. In addition, the POA claims low pay has contributed to poor morale, which has fueled an alarming degree of turnover among experienced officers.

By

Jimmy’s Last Night

“Laaast caaalll!” was announced with boisterous reverence by bartender Willy Gilbert last Saturday night inside a jam-packed Jimmy’s Oriental Gardens. It was the final farewell to the Chinese restaurant cum stiff drink-serving bar that’s closing its doors after six decades of business. When owner and chef Tommy Chung announced one month ago that he planned to retire and sell the property, Jimmy’s business boomed like never before, peaking last weekend with lines snaking out the door and down East Canon Perdido Street. Drinkers and eaters lament the loss, but so do Santa Barbara’s legions of historians, since Jimmy’s-which first opened on the waterfront in 1940 before moving downtown in 1947-was the last reminder of what was once Santa Barbara’s bustling Chinatown.

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