Tag archives: cannabis
Thanks to the fact that California has deemed cannabis to be an essential part of the state’s economy, Santa Barbara County’s cannabis industry is one of the few major employers that isn’t either completely shut down or drastically downscaled during the COVID-19 pandemic. CARP Growers, which represents legally licensed Carpinteria cannabis farms such as Autumn […]
A long–simmering conflict over cannabis odor and pesticide use continues in Carpinteria Smell, What Smell? On a recent afternoon, Hans Brand steers his electric golf cart-type vehicle from the main office of his Carpinteria cannabis farm to a sprawling greenhouse that seems big enough to fit a football field inside it. Inside the structure, at […]
There is a new supper club in town – but it’s not your granny’s get-together of the ‘50s. This is a chance to experience a meal on a new level… a “high”-er level, if you will. Just when you thought your Friday night couldn’t get more exciting, enter Melissa Petitto and Cynthia Abulafia. Both moms. […]
Not Sorry Thank you for your questions and observations regarding the power of apology in the February 20-27 editorial. Among other things, the editorial points to a number of principles of concern, the value of the press and ethics and honesty in politics. After the next election these issues will persist. We count on the […]
This political season feels tedious and interminable. Like watching Joaquin Phoenix’s Oscar acceptance speech on a continuous loop. Set to elevator music. And then the elevator gets stuck. Unfortunately, for many of the races that matter to us, we still have eight months to go till November – eight months of promises, sniping, wooing, and […]
Water to the Wealthy Last Monday, I attended the Montecito Journal hosted debate between Sup. Das Williams and his opponent Laura Capps, president of the SB School Board. During the debate, I became aware how Montecito struggles to obtain sufficient water. I was not aware that over 80% of Montecito water comes from out of […]
Inaugural Event a Success Congratulations to the Montecito Journal on a very successful and well attended 1st District Supervisor Debate. The evening was informative, professional, well organized, and even had some humor sprinkled in. Although free to those of us in the audience, I’m confident that even with the support from the Montecito Association, the […]
By all accounts, Monday night’s candidate debate at Hahn Hall was a rousing success. Over 300 of Montecito’s finest showed up and packed the house to hear First District Supervisor Das Williams and challenger Laura Capps respond to questions from community leaders and to hear the candidates make their case why he or she should […]
It was standing room only on Monday, January 27, at Music Academy of the West’s Hahn Hall for the Montecito Journal Media Group’s inaugural event: the First District Supervisor Debate. Incumbent Das Williams and challenger Laura Capps faced off to answer several questions formulated by MJ CEO Gwyn Lurie and KCRW host and reporter Jonathan […]
Enough is Enough Conversation following Mt. Carmel’s school Christmas program, at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church in Carpinteria, should have been about the adorable children and plans for the holidays. Instead, it instantly moved to concern about the near contact-high adults and children alike were experiencing that night in the Church. The odor of cannabis in […]
Our Banana Republic County Last month another article appeared in the WSJ about our Cannabis County. Unfortunately, every national story, and there have been many, is like a drip that slowly corrodes our historic brand. This story contained familiar themes: the odor, values, and the reality that cannabis tax revenues continue to underwhelm. What was […]
The Santa Barbara Medical Cannabis Conference and Expo – which would have been the first of its kind in the tri-county area save for a similar if smaller event held in Ojai last weekend – explores the science, and a bit of the spirituality, behind cannabis and CBD and their ability to heal ailments of […]
The Mind and Supermind series from SBCC School of Extended Learning (aka Adult Ed) has a 35-year history of presenting dynamic speakers and accomplished authors on cutting-edge topics of human psychology in all of its facets and implications. Among the previous speakers over the years have been Deepak Chopra, Byron Katie (creator of The Work), […]
Archie’s Last Days I just had a neighbor say… “Why would you let them print this (“The Last Days of Archie McLaren,” MJ # 25/15)?” My answer even surprised me. Archie wanted this story told so dying people had a choice. He actually requested me to find someone just weeks before he died. So back […]
Also on the horizon before the opening of the Music Academy’s impressive eight-week 2019 Summer Music Festival in mid-June is the recital featuring the 2018 Marilyn Horne Song Competition Winners mezzo-soprano Kelsey Lauritano and pianist Andrew Sun at Hahn Hall on May 24. The singer joined the Oper Frankfurt studio last September two months after […]
Good Times Rolling Has anyone noticed that the Dow Jones Industrial Average is closing in on returning to its previous unprecedented high in the high 26s. When it sunk a few months ago to almost 22,000, the mainstream media was heralding the end of the “Trump Economy.” Now, there’s (almost) nothing in the way of […]
Private use of marijuana for recreational purposes is now legal for adults living in Montecito. Recreational use of marijuana for those 21 years and older was approved overwhelmingly by state’s voters in November 2016. The legal sale of adult-use cannabis projects at recreational dispensaries licensed by the California Bureau of Cannabis Control took effect on […]
A Simpler Solution In “Sucking It Up” written by Larry Bond (MJ #25/7), he indicates that both he and Mr. Gene Tyburn wonder “…why this common sense solution to our water woes has not been pursued.” The “common sense solution” referred to is to dredge the bottom of the lake when conditions permit to increase […]
A Non-Scientific View Last week, Montecito Journal’s front-page photo of the Romero debris catch basin filled with tons of rocks, coupled with your words stating Montecito had fared the last major storm “very well,” left me wondering why you are still writing about the installation of several steel nets. If what we have in our […]
A decade ago, Montecito asset manager Frank McGinity produced a film on Riven Rock and one of its more famous residents, Stanley McCormick, who was confined to the area for 40 years, and was the subject, in 1929, of the largest custodial lawsuit in America. McCormick, the son of Cyrus McCormick, inventor of the mechanical […]



