CAMPUS
UCSB soccer player Sam Strong was arrested on Oct. 4 on charges of assault with a deadly weapon and reckless driving. The second year student saw an officer put a clamp on his car wheels and proceeded to get in his car and attempt to drive away, almost hitting the officer. Strong reportedly has several unpaid parking citations totaling approximately $600. He has been suspended from all athletic competition. His case will be investigated by the Office of Judicial Affairs.
ISLA VISTA
The Isla Vista Community Center will be moving forward with mission statements and a vision for the building this Thursday from 5 to 6 p.m. Participants at the meeting, hosted at 976 Embarcadero del Mar, will also discuss fundraising for the center. When complete, the center would be a space for I.V. residents to program and host events.
STATE/COUNTY
Green Party Presidential candidate Jill Stein held a rally in Santa Barbara on Oct. 8. Two hundred people congregated in De La Guerra to hear Stein denounce the two presidential candidates as the “lesser of two evils.” The Green Party candidate said that under Trump, the Republican Party will “run off a cliff” and that “you can trust absolutely nothing Hillary Clinton says.” Stein and Libertarian candidate Gary Johnson were excluded from the presidential debate held last Sunday.
The Open Alternative School, a unique educational institution with a customized student learning approach, is under scrutiny from the Santa Barbara Unified School District due to low student enrollment and high costs. At a board meeting last Tuesday, community members questioned the OAS’s progress. According to the cost-per-student breakdown, OAS is on average twice as expensive as the other elementary schools in the district.
KEYT televised a live debate, sponsored and moderated by local journalists such as KCSB’s Nkechi Ikem, on Sunday evening between Republican Congressional candidate Justin Fareed and Democratic Congressional candidate Salud Carbajal. Among the numerous topics discussed, Fareed called for systemic changes in the federal budget and subsequent spending, while Carbajal put special emphasis on making a necessary transition to renewable energy without the help of offshore oil operations.
The Santa Barbara Harbor and Seafood Festival lured thousands of visitors on Saturday with dozens of pop-up seafood booths, fare from local businesses, and family friendly activities. In its 15th year, the festival was expected to attract approximately 12,000 to 14,000 people, according to Noozhawk. The festival is a celebration of local culture, livelihoods, and the Santa Barbara Harbor itself whose history spans all the way back to 1930.
Pacific Pride Foundation held a demonstration on Tuesday at De La Guerra Plaza to protest against a hate crime that occurred on State Street several weeks prior. Richard Schiwietz, a fifteen-year Santa Barbara resident, was called a “faggot”, threatened, and then punched in the face by his aggressor while walking down State Street. Schiwietz then chased the man down several streets in downtown Santa Barbara until law enforcement arrested the suspect. Schiwietz’s injuries included a swollen black eye.
Officials have reported that the Rey Fire, which burned over 33,000 acres in the Los Padres National Forest by the end of late August, had a less significant impact on watersheds than previous fires. Lake Cachuma and Gibraltar Reservoir, together supplying 80 percent of the South Coast’s water, will benefit from the minimal sedimentation left in the fire’s wake as winter storms hit.