I participated in another series of hikes this Spring, and here are the fruits. I'm sorry I don't remember many of the plant names. I oughta write 'em down when I learn 'em. I've identified the ones I remember.
Deer Weed. You notice how it's yellow and orange? Well, this is insect-pollinated and insects can't see the difference between orange and green. The flowers bloom yellow, and when they are pollinated, they turn orange. The insects don't see the pollinated flowers, so they don't bother visiting them again.
Mother Nature is pretty smart, huh?
Deer Weed
Indian Pink
Scarlet Pimpernel. Hmmm...that would make a good book title!
We saved this fellow, as a crow had ahold of him when we came down the trail to our cars. Mr. Crow dropped him and flew away. You are welcome, Sir Ringneck!
A remnant of a part of early Santa Barbara's water works
My favey, Canyon Sunflower
Big Pod ceanothus
A salamander from the creek
Non-native, but very beautiful, rock rose
The Coyote Bush have tons of these spit-wads on them. Inside is a spittle-bug, who has secreted the protective goop surrounding him.
The bug.
A California Thrasher. They talk like Mokingbirds.
The turkey vultures love the updrafts!
A bull frog warming up in Lake Los Carneros
Holly Leaf Cherry
Sticky Monkeyflower. When you come to visit, have me show you its pollination trick.
A big ol' bullsnake!
Caterpillar Phacelia
Humboldt Lily! Pretty, isn't it?
Lupine
Yuccas are pollinated by a moth, who lays her eggs in the blossoms. The larvae eat some of the seeds. It is a good relationship!
A native orchid
This was THE biggest alligator lizard I'd ever seen!
After a 29-year-old Santa Barbara man was hit by a car and possibly stabbed Sunday night in what police say was likely gang-related, authorities are seeking information on suspects who fled the scene in the 800 block of East Carrillo Road.
Sgt. Mike McGrew of the Santa Barbara Police Deparment told the News-Press after the incident that authorities recieved reports in the area of an incident after which two vehicles--a dark-colored Jeep Cherokee and a Volkswagen--fled the area.
Authorities arrived to find skid marks and a blood puddle, said Sgt. McGrew. A blood trail was followed up the driveway at 817 E. Carrillo Rd.
Hiding in a bedroom, according to Sgt. McGrew, was the victim, who has a Goleta gang tattoo across his chest reading "Old Town."
The victim was bleeding and had a "bump on his head," said police, who were told by the man that he did not know what had happened.
Sgt. McGrew said the victim told authorities that he may have been hit by a car, but he was uncertain.
The victim's girlfriend told police that the victim had gotten in a fight over a football game at a bar on the corner of West Haley Street and Fig Avenue over a football.
The men with whom the victim had fought, she told police, followed them back to the East Carrillo Road address.
Police hope witnesses will come forward with information related to the incident. At least two 911 calls were made by witnesses, and multiple witnesses contacted authoriteies on-scene.
Though the victim appears to not want to press charges, said Sgt. McGrew, the suspects could still be arrested on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon.
Any information, contact SBPD at 897-2300.
(note: there are no typos here. This is the quality of the writing these days in the local "newspaper")
A 65-year-old man was arrested on Thursday for allegedly discharging a handgun inside his Mesa home, and for resisting arrest, telling police when they arrived, “Go ahead and shoot me,” a Santa Barbara police spokesman said.
“It was a very touchy situation,” said Lt. Paul McCaffrey. “Officers showed a lot of restraint, under the circumstances.”
Police were dispatched to the 100 block of Mohawk Rd. shortly at 5 p.m. after a resident reported hearing shots fired. When officers arrived, McCaffrey said they discovered that the shots were fired at a nearby residence in the 100 block of Palisades Dr.
Officers spotted the man, whose name was not released, in his back yard, and asked him to exit his home. At first, McCaffrey said the man refused, but he eventually stepped onto the front porch.
At this point, McCaffrey said the man told police to shoot him.
Once police noticed that the man’s hands were empty, they shot him with a Taser and took him into custody.
Police searched the home and found a loaded .357-caliber Magnum sitting on a chair near the front door.
“The gun was near the guy,” he said. He added later, “It’s hard to know what was in the guy’s mind.”
The incident occurred in the midst of a bloody standoff in Fresno County during which one sheriff’s deputy was fatally shot and two others were injured — facts that weren’t lost on the officer’s who responded to the Mesa incident.
“We got him in custody, we took the gun, we weren’t hurt,” he said. “The officers handled it properly.”
Feb. 11, 2:35 p.m. — Officers responded to reports of a theft at Buena Tool Co., 433 Laguna St., and learned that witnesses had followed the suspect and took a photo of him with a cell phone. The 37-year-old would-be thief had dropped three pairs of pants he took from the store as he fled.
An officer recognized the man and tracked him down in the 500 block of E. Yanonali Street. The suspect admitted to being at the store, but denied trying to steal anything. Employees said they recognized him from a prior theft of a jacket from the store.
Authorities booked the 37-year-old for burglary. Bail was set at $20,000.
As promised, the story of Officer Squid's Christmas morning.
You can also see the video in full screen by clicking the little "Full Screen" icon to the bottom right of the picture (look for a rectangle-within-a-rectangle).
Watch for a few of my heroes, especially one special hero!
Suspect Sergio Quintana, 36, Arrested; Victim Cesar Ortega, 32, Recovering in Hospital
Saturday, December 26, 2009
By MATT KETTMANN
Christmas morning started off on a particularly naughty foot for Sergio Quintana, the 36-year-old resident of Soledad Street on Santa Barbara’s Eastside who allegedly stabbed an acquaintance on Milpas Street near Haley in broad daylight Friday morning. The victim, 32-year-old Cesar Ortega, managed to flee in his vehicle and escape to his neighborhood on the 100 block of South Soledad Street, where he called police at about 10 a.m. from outside his apartment.
Once the police arrived, they found Ortega suffering from “several stab wounds to the chest and abdomen,” said Sgt. John Corre, amounting to what they thought were life-threatening wounds. He told them that he’d been stabbed by Quintana, and pointed up the street, to the 100 block of North Soledad, where the attacker’s car was parked. The police were able to quickly find Quintana, and he was arrested without incident for attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon.
Upon being admitted to the hospital, Ortega was treated and, according to Corre, “his wounds were not as serious as we had anticipated.” He’s now being classified as in “guarded but stable condition.”
Until a more thorough report is issued Monday morning, Corre was unable to go into more details, as there are still a couple witnesses that police are tracking down. “Right now, all we would be giving would be the victim’s account,” said Corre, explaining that accuracy is most important before any public statement. But it sounds as if the motive has already been worked out, and while Corre made it seem that the case was pretty cut and dry, he did say that some of the underlying issues are “interesting.”
Corre could confirm, however, that the victim and suspect did know each other before the attack and that “we’ve seen nothing that shows any gang relationship.”
One man spent Christmas in the hospital and another landed in Santa Barbara County Jail after an altercation ended with a vicious stabbing.
Just after 10 a.m. yesterday, authorities were dispatched to the 100 block of south Soledad St. on reports of a medical emergency. Upon arrival, they found 33-year-old Cesar Ortega suffering from multiple stab wounds to his chest and abdomen.
Lt. Brent Mandrell, a spokesman for the Santa Barbara Police Department, said Ortega identified the stabber as 36-year-old Sergio Osvaldo Quintana.
Investigators began a search for Quintana and located him driving a few blocks away on Ortega Street.
Mandrell said officers conducted a “high risk” traffic stop and arrested the man.
Mandrell did not know if the stabbing took place at one of the men’s homes, or how, if at all, they knew each other. He said investigators were not considering the stabbing gang related.
“It’s all under investigation,” he said.
Quintana was being held in county jail on suspicions of attempted murder and assault with a deadly weapon. Mandrell said Ortega was in stable condition.
From the Santa Barbara News-Press. You have to buy the article to read on-line. I transcribe it here.
Homeowner hammers would-be burglar Mountain Avenue resident struggles with her attacker; who flees after getting hit
By MARCI WORMSER NEWS-PRESS STAFF WRITER
A transient who broke into a backyard in the 2100 block of Mountain Avenue, near Portesuello Avenue, on Friday afternoon got more than be bargained for after the homeowner hit him in the head with a hammer.
According to Santa Barbara Police Department Lt. Paul McCaffrey, the 51-year-old homeowner was working in her backyard at about 3:15 p.m. when her dogs began "making a commotion" and then ran over to a shed in the yard. After the woman followed her pets, she saw the suspect walking out of the shed.
The suspect lunged at her, grabbed her clothing and arms and slapped her, according to Lt. McCaffrey. Because the property is uneven, the suspect lost his footing as he was attacking his victim, which gave her a chance to grab a nearby hammer and swing it at the suspect's head.
After the suspect was hit with the hammer, he ran toward La Cumbre Junior High School and hasn't been seen since.
The victim, who only suffered minor injuries, told police officers she doesn't think anything was stolen from the shed.
Police officials are asking anyone who thinks they may have seen the suspect to call the department.
The suspect may have been hanging around the area, Lt. McCaffrey said.
He is described as a white man in his 30s, with long brown hair and a beard. He was wearing a khaki-colored jacket at the time of the incident.
But should people also be on the lookout for a man with a large hammer mark on his head? No, says Lt. McCaffrey. There is no evidence that the hapless suspect was gravely injured by the hammer.
A photograph accompanied the article. (Apologies for the scan; the website is set up very badly and I was afraid I was going to be subscribing to the rag instead of just buying one article.)
Santa Barbara police officers on Friday afternoon look through a hillside on Portesuello Avenue for a suspect who broke into a backyard shed in the 2100 block of Mountain Avenue and then attacked the homeowner. The homeowner broke free from the suspect after hitting him in the head with a hammer. The suspect then fled.
From August 25 Santa Barbara Daily Sound police blotter:
August 23, 12:15 a.m. — Officers responding to an audible alarm at Tienda Ho, 1105 State St., learned police had been called to that location the day prior after employees believed a man had hidden himself somewhere in the store.
Police had searched the store at that time but were unable to find any sign of the suspect. They did find clothing and a backpack that were booked into evidence. After the alarm sounded, authorities brought in a police dog and located a 33-year-old man lying behind the cash register.
The suspect had apparently hidden in a crawl space in the store during business hours. However, the owner had locked the door to the crawl space and blocked it with wooden furniture. The suspect had apparently forced his way out of the space, causing damage to store property.
Authorities booked the 33-year-old for prowling, vandalism, interfering with a business and providing false identification to peace officers.
(What this story does not say is who was able to find the guy hiding when even the dog missed him. Can you guess who?)
Road rage apparently led a 59-year-old man to fire a pistol into the air several times in a Santa Barbara neighborhood before police caught up to him on Highway 101.
Authorities said William Anthony, of Atascadero, had been driving his vehicle along Alisos Street near Cacique Street at 7:15 p.m. on Thursday when he apparently became involved in a road rage incident with another driver.
After the two motorists pulled over and exchanged words, Anthony allegedly pulled out a pistol and fired it into the air three times, Sgt. James Ella said. Police responded to reports of shots fired and eventually stopped the suspect on Highway 101 near Sheffield Drive.
Following a DUI evaluation, authorities took the 59-year-old into custody on suspicion of possession of a loaded firearm, brandishing, negligent discharge of a firearm and driving while intoxicated.
RetroMag asked if the bear in the video below is real. Here is a video news story about the project that captured the video. It comes from this on-line news story.
Nov. 3, 8:58 p.m. — Officers received calls reporting an elderly woman with a possible broken hip in the 300 block of Rancheria Street. Upon arrival, they learned from firefighters that the woman had apparently been assaulted by her landlord. Medics were treating two victims — the elderly woman and her son.
Her son told police the landlord, a 64-year-old man, had sprayed him with water, hit him in the head and dragged him from a car onto the sidewalk. During the incident, the man’s mother, 80 years old, had attempted to stop the landlord. She told police he turned and pushed her violently to the ground.
Police noted she was in obvious pain and could not get up. The suspect admitted to spraying the man with water and dragging him to the ground. He also acknowledged that the elderly woman had fallen, but could not remember how it happened. The woman had soreness in her neck and side, as well as bruises.
Police arrested the 64-year-old suspect for battery and elder abuse, booking him in lieu of $50,000.
With another Old Spanish Days celebration in the bag, local law enforcement officials released citation and arrest statistics for the five days of Fiesta festivities.
While a cadre of officers kept the streets of Santa Barbara relatively quiet and free from any major incidents, authorities ended up arresting a total of 158 people, according to figures released by the Santa Barbara Police Department.
Those arrests included 33 for felony violations, 104 for misdemeanor offenses and 21 for driving under the influence.
Sgt. Lorenzo Duarte said while the number of felony bookings jumped from 21 last year, many were related to parole violations or felony warrants.
“We did have a few fights — what we would call assault with a deadly weapon,” he added.
However, most involved suspects arrested during traffic stops after officers determined they had violated parole, Sgt. Duarte said, or others who were booked for warrants related to theft or possession of a controlled substance.
He also offered a possible explanation for the jump in felony arrests compared with last year’s figures. Following an officer-involved shooting on State Street last year in the midst of crowds of revelers, he said a lengthy investigation forced many officers to drop their Fiesta patrol assignment to look into various aspects of the case.
“I was pulled off my Fiesta detail,” Sgt. Duarte said.
Officers had to investigate the crime scene, transport and interview witnesses, and protect evidence, he said, along with paperwork and other aspects of a major investigation.
“I remember that investigation went into the wee hours of the morning,” he said. “I truly believe that affected the stats.”
Saturday proved the busiest for law enforcement this year with a total of 60 arrests, including 11 felonies and 43 misdemeanors. Friday also saw high figures, with 54 arrests.
Police officers also issued a total of 1,102 citations — a majority of which involved traffic or parking violations. More than 525 traffic tickets were handed out, along with 255 parking citations.
With no major incidents, however, Sgt. Duarte said police officials are pleased with how the five-day event unfolded.
“We like police work, but we also like seeing people enjoy themselves and remain safe,” he said. “I’ll tell ya, every once in a while when we get a quiet one, it’s appreciated.”
Acting on a tip from a witness who reportedly saw men carrying bags of marijuana into an apartment, Santa Barbara police busted two residents earlier this week after finding them in possession of large quantities of the illicit drug.
Authorities said the men, identified as 45-year-old Ronald Davis and 39-year-old Timothy Stratton, allegedly pilfered the pot from an apartment in the 2300 block of State Street — where another resident apparently had been growing the marijuana for medicinal use — and took it to Davis’ apartment in the same complex.
“The guy was out of town or gone for a while or something and the other guy took the opportunity to take his neighbor’s medicinal marijuana,” said Det. John Dutcher of the Santa Barbara Police Department.
He said the legitimacy of the marijuana grow is still being investigated, but confirmed that no arrests have been made involving that aspect of the case.
The incident unfolded early Monday morning, when police received a call from a concerned citizen and headed to the apartment complex to investigate.
Upon arrival, officers approached the residence in question and noticed the door appeared slightly ajar, according to police reports. After edging up to the doorway, police could hear men talking inside and noted an overwhelming scent of marijuana emanating from the apartment.
The two men inside allegedly discussed how much they could sell the marijuana for and how they could split up the drugs for sale as authorities listened in, according to reports.
When officers knocked on the door and announced themselves as police, the room went completely silent, Det. Dutcher said. As soon as they heard movement from the room, the officers entered to prevent the suspects from hiding, grabbing weapons or destroying evidence.
Inside, they found Davis and Stratton allegedly standing among several large bags containing marijuana plants. Det. Dutcher said the entire grow, including 117 harvested plants and 117 plants that were still growing, had been stolen from the nearby apartment.
“I would say on the street it would be worth $5,000 to $6,000,” he said.
Both men admitted to taking the marijuana from the apartment, according to police reports, and allegedly said they planned to pull leaves off the plants to smoke and sell.
Authorities booked Davis, who apparently rents an apartment at the complex, in lieu of $50,000 bail for possession of marijuana for sale and burglary. Officers took Stratton into custody for possession of marijuana for sale, also on $50,000 bail.
Isla Vista, CA A group of young college women, walking home on Sabado Tarde following the annual “UCSB Panty Run,” said they were initially unconcerned about a carload of males that came alongside them around 11pm on a Wednesday. Ignoring harassing comments, the co-eds went inside their apartment without further thought of the incident. That was, of course, until the apartment’s front window shattered. The women believe the unknown men in the car could be prime suspects.
The landlady of the apartment was quite annoyed at having to arrange for glass replacement.
(the last sentence is mine) From the Santa Barbara Daily Sound, Friday, July 25, 2008:
Santa Barbara, CA July 23, 1:48am
Reports of a fight in progress bought police to the intersection of State and Cota streets. Several people on the corner, including the victims, told officers the suspects were fleeing the scene and pointed to a vehicle traveling north.
After stopping the car near Ortega Street, authorities pieced together the early morning events. Inside the car, they found a 24-year-old Santa Barbara man who allegedly had grabbed a woman’s breast and rubbed her inner thigh. Authorities booked him on a $25,000 bond for sexual battery.
Another man apparently tried to intervene during the sexual assault and was attacked by two other men found in the car. The two suspects, a 21-year-old and a 23-year-old from Boise, Idaho, who are apparently related, had punched and kicked the man. Their actions resulted in a trip to jail in lieu of $2,500 bail for battery.
The authorities were late in getting home that morning due to the multiple arrests and mountain of accompanying paperwork and reports.
A federal appeals court reviewing evidence at Guantanamo Bay compared a Bush administration legal argument to one made by a hapless, dimwitted character in a 19th century nonsense poem by Lewis Carroll.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit cited the 1876 poem, "The Hunting of the Snark," in ruling that the military improperly labeled a Chinese Muslim as an enemy combatant. The ruling was issued last week but an unclassified version of the opinion was released only Monday.
It was the first time a court has reviewed the military's decision-making and considered whether a detainee should be held. The ruling provides guidance to federal district judges, who are about to begin reviewing dozens of such cases now that the Supreme Court says detainees can challenge their detention in federal court.
The appeals court said military review panels, known as Combatant Status Review Tribunals, were unable to assess much of the evidence against the detainee, Huzaifa Parhat, and at times treated accusations as evidence.
"The big issue now is, can any CSRT decision survive this kind of scrutiny?" Parhat's lawyer, Susan Baker Manning said.
Parhat is one of a group of Chinese Muslims, known as Uighurs, being held at Guantanamo Bay. Their case has become a diplomatic and legal headache for the U.S., which has tried to find a country willing to accept the Uighurs (pronounced WEE'-gurs) even as it defended its decision to hold them as enemy combatants.
The Justice Department concedes that Parhat never fought against the U.S. and says it has no evidence he was planning to do so. The case hinges on Parhat's connection to the East Turkestan Islamic Movement, a militant group that demands separation from China. Parhat says he considers China, not the United States, the enemy.
The U.S. says it has classified intelligence that ETIM is affiliated with al-Qaida, though officials have not identified the source of that intelligence. The judges said there's credible evidence that the source is the Chinese government, "which may be less than objective with respect to the Uighurs."
The three-member court, which was made up of two Republican judges and one Democrat, was particularly pointed in its criticism of the argument that evidence is reliable because it appears on multiple documents.
"The government insists that the statements made in the documents are reliable because the State and Defense Departments would not have put them in intelligence documents were that not the case," the court wrote. "This comes perilously close to suggesting that whatever the government says must be treated as true."
The judges compared the argument to the logic in Carroll's nonsense poem, in which a hapless crew hunts for a creature that is never quite defined. The Bellman, the ship's leader, led his men across the ocean, guided by a map that was just a blank piece of paper. He rallied and reassured his crew simply by repeating himself.
"I have said it thrice: What I tell you three times is true," the Bellman says in the poem.
"Lewis Carroll notwithstanding, the fact that the government has 'said it thrice' does not make an allegation true," the court wrote.
The court said Parhat deserved a new hearing or should be released — though it didn't say to where he would be released. The U.S. does not want to send him to China for fear he will be tortured. Justice Department spokesman Erik Ablin said the agency is evaluating its options.
