Thank you News-Press
Santa Barbara Audubon Society thanks News-Press staff writer Marilyn McMahon for her April 29 article (“Eyes in the Sky: And birds on the fist for Audubon volunteer”), sharing the heartfelt story of our Eyes in the Sky volunteer and board member Coni Edick.
Along with Joan Lentz, godmother of Southern California birds, and Jan Hamber, savior of California condors, Coni and Marilyn are among the many great women and men leading the way for future conservationists and scientists.
Thank you for telling our community how easy it is to be active and do conservation. It is inspiring to hear how individuals find their passions and then, pursue volunteer opportunities to do what they enjoy (in this case, protecting birds).
It is an opportune moment to remind your readers that birds are all around us, even as we social distance and follow stay-at-home guidelines. As aptly described in a recent article, “COVID-19 might be turning many into unintentional birders” (The Globe and Mail, May 2, 2020, theglobeandmail.com/opinion/article-the-pandemic-might-turn-us-all-into-birders); all of us can experience the wonders and joys of birding from our kitchen windows and backyards simply by looking and listening.
Santa Barbara Audubon Society protects area birdlife and habitat and connects people with birds through education, conservation, and science. And we have exciting plans in the making for these activities once our community is again able to engage in such enrichment opportunities.
We are truly fortunate to have volunteers like Coni, partnerships with local nonprofits like the Santa Barbara Museum of Natural History, supporters such as the City of Goleta for our Winter Bird Count For Kids, and inspirational donors, who together secure the road for continued excellence and birdlife protections.
We just received one of our most generous donations ever, and the donors hope they will inspire others.
This important work of protecting birds has been going on for well over a century and we plan to keep it happening. Thank you for your continued support.
Katherine Emery, PhD
Executive Director
Santa Barbara Audubon Society
We haven’t learned from history
We are living in a time in history where we haven’t learned from the past.
We are familiar with the Civil War, North vs. South, with the blood that was spilled. We should have learned from it, but it is silently creeping back into our country, taking on a different cloak. It is Democrat vs Republicans. It is being sculpted by some leaders, and I use this word loosely, of the Democratic Party.
When a party is so full of hate, even before President Trump stepped into the White House, there were shouts of “impeach” and even after the Mueller fiasco, which cost taxpayers $3 to $4 million and didn’t find any wrongdoing by this president, but did find Hillary’s part with the FISA reports. Instead of working for you, they are thinking of another hate scheme. All they say is he lied, and they don’t? How about Schiff, Hillary, Comey and a few others?
We are slowly becoming a divided nation, the likes never seen before and slowly growing because, like everything in our past history, we say “it won’t survive.” It has taken hold and has spread across our nation silently. Laws are made but not enforced, too many to list and growing like a cancer.
How does a politician who makes $174,000 a year manage to buy homes, not one but several priced in the millions? “With the help of my friends?”
Some leaders who have accepted money from shady donors, with the understanding, when their party’s nominee becomes president, it will be worth it. Remember when then President Obama, with an open mike he was unaware of, whispered to President Medvedo of Russia, “This is my last election, after my election, I will have more flexibility.” Keep your eye on the Obamas in this coming election.Do you want to take a step back and have an Obama back to rule, and I mean rule, this nation?
When a party is more interested in bringing down a duly elected president and in doing so, is tearing apart our country, isn’t this an act of treason?
Benedict Arnold, a forceful general under President George Washington who became a traitor and an English enemy, has been quoted saying, “Money is this man’s GOD and to get enough of it he would sacrifice his country.” If you don’t like this country, no one is holding you from leaving. Do you stay because you are receiving money to destroy the United States?
Remember, a socialist country takes away your freedom, guns and your money. Read up on Argentina, and in 1911-16, their leader, Hipoliti Irigoyen, led a socialist country, had meatless days and printed 3 trillion dollars to keep the country going.
Now the Democratic Party is touting Joe Biden as their best for president?
Nov. 3 is fast approaching and your vote does count. One vote decided our language English over German as well as the bald eagle over a turkey. There are countries that envy us; our vote IS counted.
So Nov. 3 is the time to show you are a true American and do want what is best for These United States of America. Remember, “tyranny has always depended on the Silent Majority.”
God Bless America.
Anita Dwyer
Lompoc
All lives matter!
“Who you gonna call… Ghostbusters!?” Defund the police?
That’s the first step toward anarchy. Racism works in every direction, by a very few. Anytime we classify a “Group,” it becomes racist. “White privilege,” “BLM,” “white supremacy”… people are people.
All lives matter! Life is life, and if we categorize it, we demean it.
George Floyd, regardless of his race or character, should not have died at the hands of a “bad apple” police officer, who in eight stupid minutes, tore our country apart during COVID-19, nullifying the brave work of thousands who put their lives on the line at every traffic stop or emergency call. Peaceful protests should take place in family churches to memorialize individuals, with shared eulogies.
Then the rioters will show themselves for who they are. Peaceful protests often incite riots in the very beginning.
At the age of 9, I was saved from drowning by a young black boy at a summer camp pool. Four years later, I pulled a young black boy from drowning at a hotel pool. In either case, those hands weren’t looking for color or character, but life.
In my volunteer time at the Lompoc FCI, I have witnessed character and potential in every inmate. I see leaders who are saying, “If I can make it, you can!” Ben Carson, David Robinson, Condoleezza Rice, Thomas Sewell, Candace Owens, David Dorn and many more. We can come back and be an even better country.
Let’s make the words of Jesus work for us, as MLK embraced. Revenge is not “justice,” or an answer to anything.
Randy Rosness
Solvang
