Westmont College Owed a Public Apology

Bravo!

Well done.

Well said!

People should not draw conclusions until they have facts. Sherriff Brown did not make any statements implying that the students were from Westmont. If people made the baseless assumption that the young people were from Westmont, it is their failure, not Brown's.

I agree with RCMeltzer: Brown isn't responsible for people jumping to conclusions. But if there's no legal reason Brown couldn't have said which school the students attended, I don't know why he didn't. And where, exactly, was Westmont "savaged by the public"?

The lack of information did imply that they were students from Westmont. And people DO make assumptions (especially when they're so eager to believe the worst about Westmont). He should have known that.

Well said. Thank you Ray.

Agreed, the Sheriff handled it very badly. He left an information vacuum for suspicions to rush into. He should have realized that the college most proximate to the fire would be suspected, in this case unfairly.

Why is it that the community is quick to point to Westmont College? Most obvious it is their proximately to the Tea House. But I think it goes much deeper than that. While Westmont and it’s faculty housing is on 120+ acres the density and intensity of it’s land use is much greater than the surrounding neighbors in many aspects including; population, buildings, traffic, noise, water, sewer and community services.

Westmont has a history of pushing past the limits that the neighborhood can tolerate. In my opinion much of the anger expressed in this situation is a manifestation of decades of neighborhood issues with Westmont.

Pam Lopker

What school these adults are enrolled in is irrelevant and clouds the issue of personal responsibility with trespassing and building a fire in a no fire zone, with a red flag warning imposed.

Get a grip Ray. The "information void" as you put it probably exhisted for a good reason. Perhaps the investigation was not complete. Prematurely releasing information tending to identify the bad guys could have scared them off. Information such as this is typically held for weeks or even months. Bravo to Sheriff Brown and his department for finding those responsible so quickly. Bravo to Sheriff Brown and his department for putting the peoples minds at ease. Knowing those responsible have been found and a lunatic firebug is not on the loose in Southern California is a comfort.

Who cares what school they go to they were somewhere they did not belong and were irresponsible! No the Sherriff does not owe anyone an apology, Westmont students have partied illegally at the tea gardens also.

Thank you for being the first to write an article defending Westmont! Yes, many blogs suddenly began attacking Westmont. Pam needs to continue the attack!????

The people were all 18+ and therefore adults. They were not on a school outing, they were friends out for a night of partying and they did something really dangerous and dumb. Does SBCC teach or foster carelessness or wanton destructiveness? No. Do you think that only CC students do stupid things? Come out to Isla Vista any weekend and watch the UCSB students (along with CC and high school and out of town students) stagger around in a drunken stupor, fall off the cliff, set couches on fire in the street, drive drunk, have semi-conscious sex with strangers, leave their apartments unlocked...
Most of us did some things in our youth that we were lucky didn't result in serious injury or tragedy, many things could have gone either way.

RE: Pam Lopker Comments

So what if some (not all) neighbors have a problem with Westmont? Bring that to a different forum, write a letter to the editor, but don't dare to say that just because you and other neighbors have a problem with Westmont being in the neighborhood that gives you the right to publicly accuse and attack them. As an outsider in Goleta watching this develop I have been absolutely appalled by the comments. Yes, I am familiar with the neighborhood issues with Westmont as I have a friend living on Cold Springs Rd. That doesn't give you (being the opposers to Westmont not necessarily you personally) the right to incite the makings of a riot on Westmont. Do you realize the actions of these attackers could have very well put Westmont in danger. Somebody on one of the forum comments actually said "an eye for an eye". Is that a very neighborly comment? Many people lost many things in this tragedy, including Westmont. Put your separate non-fire related beef with Westmont aside for a while and let them and others recover from this tragedy. There are so many people in Santa Barbara and Montecito that need healing at this time. You really don't need to bring other issues with Westmont into this particular fire related forum.

Ray Ford for President, oh, er, maybe Secretary General of the UN....well, maybe head of the new CCC.

Thanks Ray, I agree with you. The Sheriff really mistepped in this case.

Pam Lopker is really kooky... didn't she complain that Westmont faculty kids weren't good enough for Cold Springs?

The neighbors moved in knowing full well that Westmont is a college and that a college must always keep up with its competitors. A pox on Pam Lopker and all her vinegary dried up old deadbeat friends.

I hope Westmont expands much more than their plan called for. The neighbors deserve it!

What Westmont really wants is to make sure that every available sheriff's official come to Harder Stadium Saturday night, Nov. 22, at 7 p.m. to root for the Warriors and to receive the thanks and appreciation of the Westmont community for their work during the Tea Fire!

Scott Craig
Westmont Manager of Media Relations

A well written and timely piece by Ray Ford and those who did use the opportunity to attack Westmont without the facts should offer a apology as well as should the Sheriff personally.

Another question that hasnt been answered why is Drew Sugars the PIO giving information to groups and colleges in town yet not sharing that same info with the public via the press. He worked in news he should know that is not acceptable. At this point Sugars looks like a failure at his job fire him, and bring back Raney or another PIO who knew their job and were staff anyways instead of paying for a new employee who cant do the job right.

Yes, I thought people might jump to conclusions and make assumptions. I suppose the Sheriff should know how people here think.

I keep watching for apologies to be posted from cosmoparis2 santabaraand curious WHAT'S UP??????

Sheriff Brown does not owe an apology to anyone for stating the facts. He was not making any insinuations or blaming anyone. I don't think Sheriff Brown should be stigmatized in any way as "unprofessional" as you make him out to be. The issue as to which school these students attend is at no significance to the Tea Fire at all. The issue here is that these students were irresponsible. They probably knew they were somewhere they shouldn't be and it was not the smartest thing to do by starting a fire in or near dry brush.

News Junkie-
By not saying anything he implicated Westmont.
Come on, someone says that there were ten 18-22 year-olds from one school responsible for the fire, and there just happens to be 1200 of them less than a mile down the hill, who would you think started the fire? Based on that information, a 5 year-old would think they were from Westmont, and rightfully so. If the Sheriff knew for a fact that they weren't Westmont students and had said so, it still wouldn't have had let anyone know where they went to school, but it sure would've saved a lot of pain for the Westmont community. Yes, the sheriff stated the facts; however, when the vitriol started... and continued, nothing was done to place those facts in any context and Westmont was hung out to dry. That is the problem.

The school these kids (18-22 is still kids to me) has always been ENTIRELY IRRELEVANT to this tragedy.

A school should never have been mentioned. Because it was mentioned it strongly implied that the students were from Westmont to anyone with a logical cell in their brain. This was thoughtless & irresponsible to do in the wake of so much tragedy.

However, as irresponsible as this press release was, it was still no excuse for anyone to aim their irrational hatred at those who had just suffered through a very traumatic event. It was a little too Lord of the Flys.

And yet, those from Westmont replied with compassion & grace & unbelieveable restraint. I have nothing to do with Westmont, do not practice their religion but I am very impressed by those who have represented the school during this unbelievable double tragedy.

Bravo VoiceofSB and Newsjunkie for your wisdom. I wonder why some people want to jump to the conclusion that the Sheriff intentionally wanted make it look like Westmont students were at fault, or had some political agenda for what he said. Yes he is a politician, but can anyone point to one time in recent time any law enforcement news release in a crime or important event in this area was made and was designed to intentionally mislead people? The Sheriff's Department did a GREAT job solving this case. Maybe we should wait and see what the facts of the case are. A lot of people jumped to the same conclusion about the Sheriff as they did about the school. But once the real facts came out, many were proved wrong.
Maybe the colleges were told about their students involvement, or non-involvement, during the investigation, which is why they knew, and the Sheriff's department agreed not to release the status of each school in exchange for their cooperation. There are a lot of reason why Sheriff's depertment may not have wanted to release the school. We may never know.

Maybe the Sheriff should not have mentioned school at all. If you saw the original and complete news conference on Channel 3, he mentioned it after several people ask several questions. Maybe, just maybe, he was reluctant to mention it because it was irrelevant or he wanted to protect the 10 people involved from the hatred and realiation of some of the people on these blogs. Granted once the Sheriff did a "college" was involved, it became the main point of the story, but give him and his department a break, or maybe forgiveness and waiting to undertand something untill all the facts come out, is not in your repertoire of tools…

The fact remains that it was a group of typically ignorant students who almost burnt our city down. Stus need to go home to Shoalville! SB, CARPAS n GOLETA LOCS ONLY!

Gag me with a spoon
It was just a press conference for crying out loud!
- About a devastating fire -
Move on! Pound your keyboards and click your mice (channel your energy) to do something useful!!
Put a fork in it - this story is cooked.

Of course any "5 year old" or anyone with "a logical cell in their brain" would assume the 10 students were students of Westmont due to the lack of information provided or what have you. These are assumptions, people are allowed to do that. I don't think that Sheriff Brown should be blamed for people's assumptions. I don't think he intentionally led the public to believe they were Westmont students. I've never met the guy, but given his public service and honorable position, I don't think he would jeopardize his future and smear his reputation by doing so.

Who is aiming their irrational hatred at those who had just suffered through a very traumatic event? With all due respect, the hatred I see here are these posts from neighbor readers attacking eachother rather than having a rational discussion by expressing what we think of this article.

The school to which these students attend are at no significance at all. These students are individuals that need to take responsibility for their negligence.

PAM LOPKER, NOT THE SHERIFF OWES AN APOLOGY

So imagine that a neighbor has faced a horrible loss, home, business, and then were blamed by some that it was all their fault - without fault.

How you react? How did some, esp. Pam Lopker respond:

From Pam after Westmont loses buildings, dorms, homes and instead of crying is helping our community, and after finding out Westmont students did not cause fire: HERE IS WHAT SHE POSTED ABOVE:

"Why is it that the community is quick to point to Westmont College? Most obvious it is their proximately to the Tea House. But I think it goes much deeper than that. While Westmont and it’s faculty housing is on 120+ acres the density and intensity of it’s land use is much greater than the surrounding neighbors in many aspects including; population, buildings, traffic, noise, water, sewer and community services.

"Westmont has a history of pushing past the limits that the neighborhood can tolerate. In my opinion much of the anger expressed in this situation is a manifestation of decades of neighborhood issues with Westmont."

Yes, the Sheriff made a mistake - he sort of blew it, but oh my he meant no harm.

Pam Lopker is the CEO of a public company, and instead of having empathy for a neighbor after a loss - she attacks them. WOW.

Facts.

1. Westmont's campus is 80% open space.

2. The faculty homes are 41 on 29 acres - maybe half the density of the closest homes.

3. The faculty Homes at Westmont pay more to Cold Spring School, one of the wealthiest in the state, more than 75% of the other residents in the community.

Who owes an apology? Yes Bill Brown should say - opps - I'm sorry - I blew it.

Pam Lopker needs to say - I am sorry to be a selfish self-centered multi-millionaire who is so angry that I cannot see or feel a neighbors pain.

I am embarrassed to live in the same neighborhood as Pam Lopker.

In no way does Sheriff Brown need to apologize to Westmont or anyone else! The Sheriff's Department as a whole worked dilegently for the WHOLE community on the Zaca, Gap and Tea Fires. Has anyone thought about maybe the reason NONE of the THREE local colleges were mentioned was so that all of this so-called "hatred" was not directed to any one of them. Typically whenever there is a large scale investigation and students are involved the heads of those respective schools are notified/informed.

As frustrated as I've been by the "guilty before proven innocent" crowd, no one owes anybody an apology. We must move forward and put our energies into rebuilding this devestated community.

Sure, maybe the information could have been presented differently. But who could have known that a vocal few would take the opportunity to vent their frustrations at Westmont.

I'm proud of the job the Sheriff's department has done... and I guarantee you that no one at Westmont believes they are owed an apology.

Let's stop exacerbating the problem by pointing fingers at the one's pointing fingers. And let's give the local Sheriff's a little slack... I can only imagine the burden of their job in the aftermath of such a tragedy.

Let's take this time to move forward and rebuild rather than further tear down. Everybody deserves it.

No apologies here. This is a public forum where we can vent our feelings and that day, those were my feelings. I'm super sad for the homes that were lost, especially to those that had no insurance or not enough. I hope that those that are responsible are consequenced and I hope that if there is a way for the innocent homeowners to receive compensation, that it will come quickly so they can be financially capable of housing their families in the style that most of them worked hard to attain.

There have been other fires in SB and they are all scary but there is nothing like the feeling that many of us felt to stand ANYWHERE in town and be able to see the fire on the hill. If the winds hadn't of stopped gusting, it would have come into town and no amount of hard work and dedication on behalf of our fire fighters would have been able to prevent MAJOR loss. And not just property loss either but loss of life. We have a right to be angry at the carelessness and if it comes out viscious at times, it is only because we care about our community. We can't all be PC all the time! Do I feel bad for assuming it was Westmont? Not really. Am I glad that it wasn't? It doesn't really matter. I grew up in this town and Westmont students were usually spoiled snobs...maybe it's changed? Likening snobbishness with carelessness may not be totally fair but our assumptions are what led those in the know to actually give us the truth. Next time, cut to the chase and either provide more info, or less... not just enough to drive everyone crazy.

newsjunkie, 'irresponsible' does not mean intentional, not sure how you drew that conclusion

also, the context in which you used one of my sentences is a bit odd so i suggest you go back & read what i wrote since it is the same sentiment you were expressing

Is the writer saying that the Sheriff should have known that there was a group of vindictive, angry neighbors ready at any moment to heap unwarranted insults (as seen in the previous post) on at least 1500 of their neighbors who were equally victimized by this fire? Should the Sheriff also apologise for the actions of the 10 students who started the fire?

allister, i'm not the writer but i'd say the sheriff should have considered that mentioning a school at all (which was irrelevant) would be at the very least, extremely misleading under the circumstances

Maybe you are correct river, but to blame the Sheriff for all those who irresponsibly took a kick at Westmont during this difficult time seems just wrong. 9 SBCC students were irresponsible in their actions, but many bloggers have been irresponsible (and even inflamatory) in their words. Some would say that words don't really matter- but I would disagree.

river,

Let me apologise to you. I intended to refer to santabarbarasand's post as the 'previous post' but you must have been posting while I was writing. Santabarbarasand commented that "Westmont students were usually spoiled snobs". Isn't that responsible and sensitive?:) Should the Sheriff have to apologise for these sort of unneigborly comments at a time like this?

allister, i agree that it is wrong to blame the sheriff for the bad behavior of some of the posters we've seen on these blogs

however it is quite fair to criticize him for how he handled the press release because it was very misleading

I i agree with you, posts such as santabarbarasand's are incredibly destructive, not to mention innacurate & bigoted

Let me get this straight. With several wildfires burning in Cali the Sheriff dept achieves the rarest of rare by catching (within days) the people who started the Tea Fire. Before the case is even handed to the D-A, Sheriff Brown addresses the public to calm any fears that arsonists were at work here. Then this paper hosts a forum in which people speculate and attack various institutions who bear no responsibility for the fire. Now the same paper is demanding the Sheriff apologize for damaging the reputations of one of the institutions. Really? Does Mr. Ford have any idea how an investigation works? Does he know what's at stake? How his paper which rushes to print something new every two hours does not share the same responsibility as an agency whose decisions and actions could have far reaching implications for decades? If anyone needs to apologize it's the host of a forum who makes no attempt to instill a sense of responsibility or maturity at the gathering it created. The first bonfire was devastating. This one is just sad.

With great respect for the hard work the Sheriff's department did & continues to do regarding this tragedy, I am not sure that it is completely accurate to say they 'caught' the people who started the fire. The SD received a phone call which led them to the students who are cooperating. I believe that much of the credit must go to whoever it is that made that call which may have taken a lot of courage depending on who they were.

Should we applaud Perspectiveplease for successfully finding and hitting his target -- the messenger?

As a student body officer at Westmont College, my heart broke when I heard the news that 10 students were found to have lit a bonfire that started the Tea Fire which ravaged my school and left many of my friends and mentors homeless. I was scared of the backlash the college would face if it was found that these were Westmont students. I didn't realize that nothing had to be released for the backlash to begin. As an avid reader of the Independent, it wasn't long before I found my own political beliefs and religious affiliations being brought into question (even mocked) because I attend a university where other students may or may not have acted dangerously and irresponsibly to cause this fire.
It didn’t seem to matter that even IF the young adults involved were all students of the same institution, this was not a school sanctioned/sponsored activity; these were autonomous adults acting on their own will, and making negligent decisions that no school would stand behind (trespassing in not condoned by Westmont college, and it is certainly not encouraged). Yet on this public forum, there were still those who cried for the shutting down of our campus, and selling of our assets.
Even with this in mind, I do not feel an apology is necessary from Sheriff Brown. If anything, as a community Westmont is thankful for the hard work of all the local law enforcement officers who have worked tirelessly and handled this situation in such a timely manner. Yes, his statements were vague, but I am sure they were for good reason. I trust his judgment in handling legal affairs that I would be scared to touch with a 10 foot pole, and I am confident he had no intention of misleading or misinforming the public.
While some of the reactions to Brown’s statement were salt in the wound of a hurting campus, it is not productive to continue the finger pointing. The best way forward is to focus on healing and rebuilding. On Monday Dec. 1st there will be A Service of Hope and Renewal in our gym at 10:30. All students, alumni, and neighbors are invited to come. The community will gather to give thanks that no lives were lost and to comfort and mourn with those whose homes and offices were destroyed.
I should finish by saying this: As followers of Jesus, Westmont students desire to be good neighbors. If anyone in the surrounding community needs extra hands in the coming weeks, they can e-mail studentvolunteer@westmont.edu. We would love to hook you up with students who are willing to help in any way possible. We love Westmont and view it as our true home, and feel so blessed to be living in a community like Montecito. The least we can do is be contributing members to the rebuilding.
Jane Highstreet
Note to Montecito Residents: Because we take our responsibility to be good neighbors seriously, if you have any thoughts or suggestions about how Westmont students could better serve the community that surrounds us, feel free to e-mail me at wcsa@westmont.edu .

I am far away from SB and saddened by the ugliness of many of these posts I've read as I've been following the fire that destroyed so much of the college I attended. I read Jane's comment above and am reminded again why I am proud of Westmont College. Jane's grace and maturity shine and I find myself proud to share a college heritage with her.

Oh Allister, that was my experience when I was younger and it's based on fact, at least as it related to my world. It is not relevant to this discussion and focusing on my personal opinion on a certain population, that comes from personal experience, really isn't the point. But if you want to take the focus off the real issue, which is that the first article said that the fire was inadvertantly caused by young adults all from one school, and most of us assumed Westmont due to the proximity and lack of information, then that's up to you. This is, after all, a public forum! :)

Again, this is an emotional topic and just because we don't all say things the same way, or have exactly the same opinion, it does NOT mean that we all aren't upset by what happened to people who were innocent. We just express it differently or bring different experience to the table. Our differences should be respected, it is what makes human... there are lots of people who have said things that I don't agree with but so what?

The point is that during a time when we should be notified, we were only told part of the story. In our emotional state, which is totally understandable, many of us assumed something that did not turn out to be true. That is an unfortunate but real part of human nature. Tell us the truth and we will have less to speculate on!

river - one advice: take a chill pill.

As a graduate of Westmont College and former employee, I am grateful for the some of the recent comments already posted. Even in the 60's and 70's I can share from personal experience that the college officials warned students, faculty and employees during orientation and thereafter that trespassing on any private properties surrounding the college, and specifically visiting what is known as the "Tea Gardens" was both illegal and off-limits. Westmont College as an institution should never have been "blamed" for the actions of any of its students in this horrific fire incident and I do hope there will be several very public apologies. Most Westmont College students choose to attend there because it is an excellent academic institution, and more importantly to study and learn how best to be life-long servants of Jesus Christ; certainly NOT to be troublemakers in the community. While no staff, faculty or student would claim to be perfect--or perfect Christians, the college and its students definitely deserve public apologies from so many who made incorrect assumptions, jumped at wrong conclusions, and made negative, damaging, inflamatory and very hurtful comments about the college and its students. Anyone who really understands what Westmont College is about should be very proud to have it in their community--even if they do not share its Christian beliefs.

While I agree with much of what carolanb says, I don't agree with the demand for apologies.

Public apologies are a waste of time...

Let's just move on and figure out how we can help each other in the community.

Kuddos to Westmont students for their offer to help the surrounding community! santabarbarasand, these students would be the first to show up at your house and help.

poorSantabarbrasand, curious, Pam Vinegar and cosmoparis2 - Please read river, janehi, carolannb open your hearts and learn from your mistakes. Now go out and do something to help.

AllisterSamualgmljmechysnoofel tacechatty Pam VinegarincreduloustacelotLarsYour comments are DISGRACEFUL.  Speaking of hate, you seem to have a lot of it.  Why are you suddenly quiet?Are you now asking for SBCC land? Have you heard the kind of hatred you spew like vomit from Westmont????Thurston is great for coming around.  Where are the rest of you????sbthree - Your comment made me cry.  Thank you!

Carebear
Noticed ya had a beef with Snoofel.

So please revisit the posts so you can know that I have said nothing hateful toward Westmont.

The main point to be garnered by this horrendous tragedy is that we NEED to educate ALL students about the fact that having a bonfire in SB is illegal- and never a good idea. One would think that this is common knowledge - but given the current circumstances it is not. Many of us have reflected on lack of good judgement that youth can have. We need to educate ALL students.
Also as for partial culpability - if the institution failed to educate new community members (often from out of town not familiar with this level of fire danger) about never trespassing as well as the extreme fire danger that exists in those hills that immediately surround the campus that are unique to that
area then that could feasibly and logically be an issue to
address.

So no hate toward Westmont just discussing concepts and fire education suggestions.

No Snoofel! Why even mention Westmont. I'm assuming you were there for their orientations. I don't blame you for not wanting to be lumped in with that crew. SORRY!

My Dad died on Wednesday night and on Thursday, my family and I were planning for his funeral and memorial service that were to be held on Friday. We had to evacuate my brother's family due to the fire and there were some SERIOUS psychological meltdowns because of it, because of the timing. My father was a fireman and Friday he was denied the presence of firemen at his funeral, something he wanted desperately, because they were all busy on the fire lines. I guess I'm feeling a little bit bitter and no amount of you bashing my opinion is going to take that away. In life my father fought fires, including the Sycamore Canyon fire, he deserved firemen at his burial. What I have expressed about whoever is responsible is VERY tame compared to what I truly feel. People were injured, others lost their homes and property, others almost didn't make it out in time... I'm angry about that too. Should I be required to apologize for being angry? No way.

Santabarbarasand ~ while one can certainly understand your feelings of sadness, bitterness and even anger at this time in your life, it is not your anger that requires an apology it is your choice of words. Maybe you should take a few days and sit back and take in the changes in your life before you get on your computer and lash out. I too am born and raised in SB and do not know what you are talking about when you call the Westmont students "snobs" having never experienced this in my lifetime. As it has been mentioned over and over, the school does not matter, what Brown said does not matter, these individuals made a poor, careless decision that will follow them the rest of their lives. But sitting here angry and calling names will not help the people or town that we all love, or you for that matter. I wish you time to privately mourn the loss of your father. Ray, I thought your articles were great, until you sent this one out. Not really necessary was it?

I want to thank the police and firefighters for their efforts to contain this fire. The loss of life and property was minimized by their efforts and we are lucky to have them. Perhaps the communication could have been handled differently, but I think we should have the grace to recognize that many things could be done differently in a time of crisis. Many of them risked their lives and it would seem ungrateful to chastize them at this point. Westmont will not be damaged by this incident in the long term and the students will continue to be an asset to the community. I wish you all well and pray for your speedy recovery from your losses. Westmont Alum-1988

ashaw, the tea gardens are quite remote- i don't think neighbors are privy to what is going on there which is why it is a hangout

sbsand, as a fireman, i bet your dad would be the first one to tell his friends to stay on the fireline at such a time of need- remember there was great concern on friday that the evening would bring much more destruction if the winds picked up

@ashaw

I see your point that we as a community must collectively enforce our hills from fire danger. Our attitudes and opinions about what is or is not acceptable behavior must be a unified voice on the side of action consistent with fire prevention and caution. Social norms are important in teaching children how to behave. Strong penalties for carelessness with fir are also important. All schools must help in educating about fire danger.

However to claim that the kids deserve no blame is completely without merit. They should be charged with criminal negligence for their stupidity and the lack of forseight that any reasonable person of this community would have had. Incarecration, restitution, and community service are warranted to help deter others from crimes like this in the future. I am sure that certain youths share a greater amount of culpability than others but all who attended that bonfire share some degree of negligence and the punishments should vary according to degree ofnegligence. Comparable negligence.

Angry or not, it was just my opinion. Get over it. I would have said that the students I knew from Westmont when I was younger were spoiled snobs, regardless of whether or not my father passed away. What I feel about those I dealt with in previous years is irrelevant to the discussion though and it is funny how people are latching onto it.

River, I agree completely. Dad would have wanted to be on the fire line helping and I have the utmost respect for all of the firefighters and police officers and anyone else who helped to contain and douse that fire. I am in awe that there was not more destruction and thrilled by that! It is amazing that the wind slowed down, enabling you guys to be able to get in there and save so many homes. It got so close to my brothers house and not too far from my childhood home and I cannot imagine how much that loss, on top of the loss we had just suffered, would have impacted my family. It did hurt not to see any firemen at his service but we all understood and don't resent the firemen whatsoever... although it did spark more anger towards those responsible for the fire. That again just makes me human. I'll get over it.

I just hope that those students, even though they did not intentionally set the blaze, have to help pay for the damage. I hope that they have to speak to Elementary School aged kids about how dangerous fire is and how fast it can get out of control... how even if you think you were careful, it is not always true. There is a reason why campfires are banned right now... and that's why my family didn't go camping this year. It is great to sit by a bonfire, relaxing, warm, etc. but when it is illegal due to unsafe conditions, those rules need to be followed. No matter how old or young you are, anyone who grows up in Southern California knows that since childhood and anyone who comes here can probably see the signs all over on our mountain roads that say "Warning, severe fire hazard..."

I heard Goleta722 and Bigsunami were having CROW for dinner and several of you were invited. Don't be shy. You know who you are!

Know what's funny? I think I may have apologized, if there weren't people actually demanding that I do it! It's funny how people focus on the words "spoiled" and "snob"... and accuse of bigotry because of it. Seriously, it's laughable! Anyways, I'm done with the topic, we are going to donate clothes and items to those who lost everything in the fire and that is more important than anything people say in this blog, including myself.

Since the subject of this article is apologies, I thought I'd share a few thoughts on the subject, learned from a life of ups & downs. Not meant for anyone in particular.

Apologies tend to benefit the apologizer more than the one being apologized to. .

Apoligizing disolves resentment, anger, shame & other negative emotions that isolate us & create illness within us.

Apoligizing or making amends is an essential part of the 12 step program which has helped so many people through the years.

There is never shame in apologizing, only great wisdom. And amazing freedom.

That would be apologizing, sorry for the spelling error!

Punishment is for people who break the law/rules and cause harm to others with their negligence. Situations like this happen, and must be learned from, not just by those that perpetrate the crime but by our children who need to see that laws are made for a reason. That signs are posted around town warning of severe fire danger and fires are banned in most places because it's dangerous. These adults broke the law and in doing so, are responsible for a fire that burned over 200 homes and has injured people. Seems pretty clear cut and would be justice, not vengeance.

As a 2002 Westmont Grad with my husband being a firefighter who fought the Gap fire and the Tea fire...I'm very disappointed in the comments previously made about Westmont and think it's great that people are realizing how wrong some of them were. During the Tea fire many of my friends who also graduated from Westmont and some who didn't and myself went after work to go to the Red Cross Orientation to volunteer and called Westmont and Red Cross to see if students or others needed to stay in our homes. We've donated time, money, and necessities to others.
Westmont did not deserve the bashing that it received and it made me sad to read it all.
Many alumni from Westmont stay in Santa Barbara and serve our community; working in the schools, working with social services...
I feel sad and am trying to do all I can for the victims of the Tea Fire along with the other wives and families of firefighters that fought that dangerous fire...I think we should all focus on what we can do now instead of getting consumed by anger about what happened.
It is normal to feel anger but it's also healthier to move on from that as well.

@Santabarbarasand

Since it seems that a number of your family members live nearby, perhaps you might consider having a "post-funeral wake" for your father, once things settle down for his firefighter friends. You could make it a celebration of his life combined with the opportunity for you, your friends & family to honor the efforts of the firefighters.

Anybody who might find that a little weird probably wouldn't understand firefighters (or their families) anyway.

Those who would have attended the funeral, but for the fire, would likely jump at the chance. Having spent 13 years as firefighter & paramedic in my younger years, I know that I would.

Just a thought...and something that I would do in your situation.

--A Westmont alumn's Dad

Thanks jrbiiicpa, good suggestion. As time passes, which it inevitably does, it all becomes easier to accept. Family has gone back to their homes and although things didn't go as planned in many areas, we did good at celebrating the life of my father. Yesterday we went through his things and we are happy to be able to donate many things in his honor. Being proactive helps ease hurt feelings!

Religiosity of Westmont is besides the point. I am impressed with the planning and training of Westmont staff, together with the fire authorities. It is because of this preparedness that nobody was killed. The kids followed instructions and survived. Now they are reaching out to help, despite being accused of being the firebugs.

I still find their religion to be goofy, but they are good neighbors and undeserving of the veiled threats.