Did you know? Bonnie Donovan
“The Doctor is in – 5 cents.”
— Charlie Brown
You can watch as the systematic destruction of America’s traditions in every city and town reaches every platform.
“It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” will not be televised on network channels this Halloween for the first time since it originally aired in 1966 on CBS. Apple has purchased the Peanuts productions, and you will have to pay for it now! There is one for the kids! Go ahead and take the child out of childhood.
So unless you have the money and the wherewithal, you will not enjoy an American family tradition. But if you have the money, you get the extras: Where is the equity in that?
It is not just Apple that is absconding our joy while they suppress our freedom. The city of Santa Barbara, in concert with Gov. Gavin Newsom and Dr. Anthony Fauci, has elected to continue to usurp our traditions. They canceled St. Patrick’s Day, Easter without worship or Easter egg hunts, Solstice, July Fourth, in-person Fiesta, high school graduations and closed beaches for holidays. And even before Halloween, the Christmas Parade of Lights is canceled.
They would cancel Christmas in general if they could.
And Thanksgiving — they have cautioned you not to gather with more than three family members for more than two hours. Again, we question the motives. We fear a suppression of all that we consider sacred.
BUT the State Street promenade is open for business with a minimum of 1,000 to 4,000 pedestrian/bikers and/or restaurant customers — a day. What kind of ruse is this? We are not lamenting that State Street is open, but we want to go to church. What gives?
High school students ask why they cannot go to school but can go to the mall or watch a movie.
However, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance to issue fines from $100 to $500 for violation of public health officer orders, as an enforcement tool beyond education or persuasion.
Violations include parties exceeding the number of households allowed, a business failing to comply with reopening guidelines, and large groups gathered at a park or beach.
County Supervisor Steve Lavigno called the fines draconian measures and a pretext for a government healthcare complex to institute a command and control scheme on the people of Santa Barbara and elsewhere. Isn’t that what tracing is?
Yet only 12 people are hospitalized out of a population of 450,000. We have the lowest hospital rate since March.
Supervisor Gregg Hart called these “fines” an “incremental nuanced tool” that will add to the range of enforcement activities. But fines still cost people money.
Interestingly, members of the same Board of Supervisors voted themselves a 3% pay raise two weeks ago in the middle of a pandemic, when many Americans are out of work, much less do they know what tomorrow will bring, especially in two weeks.
Orange County and Los Angeles area amusement parks, most notably Disneyland, Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Studios, continue to be shuttered until the counties drop below one case per 100,000.
But Walt Disney World in Florida has been open since July. And restrictions on the reopening — 25% capacity with a reservation system and mask wearing required for guests except to eat — seem to work, with no reports of COVID-19 spikes coming out of the Orlando park.
But that data is not good enough for Gov. Newsom.
Disneyland Resort President Ken Potrock has said in response that the state continues to hold theme parks to a standard vastly different from other businesses and state-operated facilities. If Disneyland can’t fight them effectively, where are we?
All the above follows the newest marching orders from Gov. Newsom.
We cannot gather or sing or celebrate or worship. But we can go to restaurants, go shopping and to the grocery store. Those things do not include community, unity and involvement with one another.
That is why we feel this is a concerted effort to break up our traditions and unified community and familial celebrations.
Did You Know? wants to support responsible sex education program for our students in Santa Barbara school districts. Clearly the HEART curriculum not only “supports the whole” child, it satisfies the state guidelines for instruction in this area.
The current Santa Barbara Unified School District Board has adopted the Teen Talk curriculum, which offends hundreds, maybe thousands of families in our community who expressed their opposition in favor of protection for our youth from information considered immoral and indecent. We not only support the implementation of the HEART curriculum but urge you to vote for those candidates running for the Santa Barbara school board who also support decency and modesty in the instruction of the students of our community. These candidates are Elrawd MacLearn, Brian Campbell and Monie De Wit.
As Roxanne Crawford so aptly put it in Sunday’s Voices section: “(they) will put kids above politics”.
To answer numerous requests regarding other Did You Know? endorsements — besides the News-Press recommendations published daily — here are more regional endorsements.
Again, these are from the Did You Know? team.
Santa Barbara City College trustees: Liechti, Gallardo, Barber.
Santa Barbara County Board of Education: Englander, Porter, DeWerd, Segal.
Santa Barbara Unified School District: Campbell, MacLearn.
Santa Ynez Valley Union High School: Robaitille-Filleppin, Luke.
Solvang School District: Durbiano.
Lompoc Unified School District: Heath, Cox, Froemming.
Santa Maria Joint Union High School District: Garvin, Morales, Baskett.
Allan Hancock College trustees: Mercado, Levy.
Vioters, be aware! You CAN vote at the polls on election day, Nov. 3!
You must bring the ballot you received in the mail and surrender it to the poll workers for a new ballot to vote in person. Without the ballot you received in the mail, they will give you a provisional ballot, which needs additional verifications later.
The whole point of voting in person is knowing that your vote was cast and counted on Election Day.
“God bless us all — everyone.”
— Charles Dickens
