SB County Goleta Council Proposes Substation, Jail Upgrade
Travis Miller / Staff Writer
Officials took their first steps toward expanding the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Dept. last week, promising to renovate the Santa Maria jail and create a Goleta Sheriff’s substation less than a mile from the UCSB campus.
On Monday, the Goleta City Council unanimously approved a proposal to create a Sheriff’s Dept. substation in the Camino Real Marketplace. The contract would convert storefront space in the shopping center into a 24-hour substation that could house four to six deputies. However, the plans are not finalized and the city council will discuss this issue further at its June 18 budget meeting.
Separately, to help alleviate jail overcrowding, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors approved $25,000 to help fund structural improvements to a Santa Maria substation jail. The Board hopes to improve the substation enough to change it to a “Type II” facility – a switch that would allow convicts to stay in the substation longer than the current four-day limit.
Supervisors and officials hope the improved substation will help ease the stress on the already overcrowded main county jail near Goleta. The project would also require a reported additional $388,000 from the county for other improvements and operating costs and the Board of Supervisors will address this issue later in June when they discuss their 2007-08 budget.
UC Santa Barbara Sugarcult, Local Bands To Perform at Charity Concert
Allison Bailey / Staff Writer
UCSB students will rock out for Ronald McDonald tonight as popular band Sugarcult hits the stage for the second annual “Party for a Cause.”
The concert, held in the UCen Hub at 9 p.m., will benefit Camp Ronald McDonald for Good Times, a program that runs summer and winter camp sessions for terminally ill children and their siblings. The Associated Students Community Affairs Board organized the event, which will also feature local bands The Coral Sea and The Dance. Tickets are on sale at the A.S. Ticket Office for $12.
Sugarcult – formed in Santa Barbara in 1998 – is best known for its three top-40 hits, “Bouncing Off the Walls,” “Pretty Girl (The Way)” and “Do It Alone.” The band has produced seven albums, with its most recent offering Lights Out released last year.
Camp Ronald McDonald was founded in 1982 to provide children suffering from serious illnesses free stays at its camp. Originally located in Malibu, the camp has since moved to a permanent location outside of Palm Springs. The organization is operated by the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Southern California, which helps support the families of sick children during their hospitalizations.
Annual Fund To Use New Automated Dialing System
Benjamin Gottlieb / Staff Writer
Technicians will begin installing a new automated computer system tomorrow that may allow UCSB fundraisers to collect far more donations than in previous years.
The university’s Annual Fund – a nonprofit group that collects charitable donations for UCSB – currently solicits gifts from alumni and parents via personalized phone calls from student callers. The new computer system will allow the Fund to contact more potential donors, by automatically dialing alumni and parents from a computerized list of phone numbers.
Telemarketing and Direct Mail Assistant Director Brandon Friesen said the new automated system is expected to increase donations from UCSB alumni and parents through faster dialing that will result in an increased number of potential donors.
“With automated computers at every desk, our ability to fundraise will increase and ultimately benefit the university,” Friesen said. “The more people we are able to call, the more money we can raise.”
The Annual Fund will begin using the new computers July 1. Organizers expect fully operational systems free of technical flaws by next fall. Donations to the Fund last year amounted to $2 million.
