County gets anti-meth ads

Santa Barbara County has qualified for a federally funded media campaign to alert the public to the dangers of methamphetamine use.

Eight other states and two other California counties were selected for the public campaign. Santa Barbara, Redding and Bakersfield are the counties selected by the Office of National Drug Control Policy (ONDCP) to receive funds for the ad campaign, which will run for six months on radio and television.

Recipients were chosen because of the prevalence use rate as calculated by the National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Each of the three counties has “a documented use prevalence, relatively small media markets and might not benefit from any of the upcoming state-funded anti-meth campaigns.”

Additional information can be found online at www.don’tw8.info or at www.stopmethinsbc.org.

 

Vote tally topped 9 million in California presidential primary

SACRAMENTO (AP) — California voters set a record, of sorts, in the Feb. 5 presidential nominating contest.

Secretary of State Debra Bowen says just over 9 million voters cast ballots, the most ever in a California primary.

Past primaries have attracted higher percentages of the state’s registered voters. The record — 73 percent — was set in 1976. This year, 57.7 percent cast ballots, the highest percentage since 1980.

The final tally means all of California’s 370 pledged delegates can be allocated in the Democratic presidential race.

The state Democratic Party says Hillary Rodham Clinton won 204 delegates and Barack Obama won 166 delegates.

In the popular vote, Clinton beat Obama by 8 points. She received 51.5 percent to his 43.2 percent.

 

4 shot and killed at Santa Maria salvage yard

Lee Isaac Bedwell Leeds, 31, was booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail for homicide March 18, after allegedly shooting to death four people at Black Road Auto Salvage in Santa Maria earlier that day. Leeds’ father owns the salvage yard, where two of the victims were employed. Leeds is being held without bail.

Authorities called the shooting a incident of “workplace violence.” All four people who were shot, including two relatives of Leeds and two unrelated employees, were pronounced dead when police arrived on the scene. As of the date of publication, police have not released the names of the victims.