Comcast launches wideband services
Comcast has launched its next-generation DOCSIS 3.0, making the leap from broadband to wideband in several areas of California, including Santa Barbara County.
With the launch, Comcast has now begun its rollout of the reliable wideband service in Central California after previously deploying the service in the San Francisco Bay and Monterey-Salinas areas earlier this year.
Wideband allows Comcast to introduce a new echelon of Internet speed tiers with some of the fastest speeds available today, including the Extreme 50 tier with download speeds of up to 50 Mbps.
Wideband also enables Comcast to double speeds for the majority of existing high-speed Internet customers.
Steve White, senior vice president of Comcast's California Region, said wideband utilizes the company's existing fiber-optic network and will allow Comcast to offer even faster speeds in the future.
The new services became available in homes Oct. 29 and businesses Nov. 5 in Ballard, Buellton, Lompoc, Los Olivos, Orcutt, Santa Maria, Santa Ynez and Solvang.
For more information, visit www.comcast.com/fastestfast or call toll-free (888) COMCAST.
SB Bank & Trust names Marshall VP
Shannon Marshall has been appointed vice president and branch manager of the Lompoc and Vandenberg Village offices of Santa Barbara Bank & Trust.
Marshall has served in several capacities since joining the bank 11 years ago, most recently as assistant vice president and assistant branch manager of the Lompoc office.
She has served on the Youth Leadership Lompoc Valley board and the La Honda Elementary School PTA and volunteers for the United Way of Santa Barbara County, North County Rape Crisis Center and Cabrillo High School Senior Project.
She also is currently a member of the Lompoc Valley Women in Chamber of Commerce and is a 2003 graduate of Leadership Lompoc Valley.
Marshall can be reached at 737-4384 or shannon.marshall@sbbt.com.
Santa Barbara Bank & Trust is a division of Pacific Capital Bank N.A. For more information, visit www.sbbt.com.
McTeacher's Nights raise $10,323 for schools
Teachers, principals, staff and PTA members from 15 Central Coast schools who went behind the counters at their local McDonald's restaurants during McTeacher's Night in October collectively raised $10,323 for their classrooms.
Schools that participated this year included Fillmore Elementary School in Lompoc and Oak Valley Elementary School in Buellton.
Other participating schools were located in Santa Maria, Nipomo, Oceano, Santa Barbara, Goleta, Templeton, Atascadero and Paso Robles.
Each year, during McTeacher's Night, educators, school support staff and parents work at various McDonald's restaurants.
McDonald's then donates 20 percent of sales generated during each event to the participating school, so donations are linked directly to the level of community support.
Since the inception of McTeacher's Night on the Central Coast, more than $78,000 has been raised and donated to local schools.
For more information, visit www.coastmcdonalds.com.
Habitat topic for Women in Construction
Richard Brown, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Northern Santa Barbara County, will be the guest speaker at the National Association of Women in Construction Central Coast Chapter meeting Tuesday, Nov. 17.
Brown will provide an update on the Santa Maria nonprofit affiliate's efforts to eliminate poverty housing and homelessness from the community.
Brown retired from Transamerica Corp. in 1998 and moved to Santa Maria from Cypress.
He joined Habitat for Humanity of Northern Santa Barbara County in 1999 as treasurer and became the executive director in 2002, working with Lompoc, Guadalupe and Santa Maria to obtain grants and other funds.
He was presented the Outstanding Community Leader Award in 2006 by the Leadership Santa Maria Valley program.
The cost to attend the dinner meeting at the Historic Santa Maria Inn is $23 for members and $28 for nonmembers.
For reservations and the meeting time, contact Donna Castaneda at Diani Building Corp. at 361-6129 or donnac@diani.com.
Restorative justice workshop scheduled
Conflict Solutions Center will hold a free public workshop on restorative justice from 10:30 a.m. to noon Friday, Dec. 4, at 604 W. Oceano Ave., Lompoc
Restorative justice is a value-based approach to criminal justice with a focus on the offender, victim and community, a center spokesman said.
The foundation of restorative justice is to determine the harm resulting from a crime, what needs to be done to repair the harm and who is responsible for repairing the harm.
In contrast, the spokesman said, the traditional approach to criminal justice - retributive justice - focuses on determining what law was broken, who broke it and how they will be punished.
Those who attend the workshop will learn about local efforts to implement restorative justice throughout the county and how to become involved.
To register for the workshop and for more information, contact Laura at ldavidson@cscsb.org or 349-8943.
- From staff reports
November 10, 2009
