Woman dies in Highway 101 accident Santa Barbara resident Lucia Cantu, 26, was killed and her three passengers were injured Dec. 17 in a single car accident on Highway 101.

According to California Highway Patrol reports, Cantu was driving south on the highway near the Hot Springs Road/Cabrillo Boulevard exit that morning when her vehicle drifted across two lanes of traffic toward the right shoulder. Cantu overcorrected and sent the 1996 Toyota Corolla careening back across both lanes and into the center divider, where she hit a tree and collapsed the roof of the vehicle.

Santa Barbara and Montecito firefighters used the Jaws of Life to extricate the moderately injured passengers. Cantu suffered a major head injury and Santa Barbara Cottage Hospital doctors pronounced her dead at 10:12 a.m. The cause of the collision remains under investigation. — D.D.

Charges against Gillio dismissed Judge Frank Ochoa dismissed all charges against art and coin dealer Ronald Gillio Dec. 18, in a case involving rights to the photographs of the late Josef Muench.  

Art Dealer James O’Mahoney will face two charges of grand theft for allegedly taking what prosecutors estimate was more than $1 million worth of prints and negatives by Muench, a renowned photographer of the Southwest.

O’Mahoney, owner of the Santa Barbara Surfing Museum, will be arraigned in late January. — L.D.

Woman dies in fall from cliffs An unidentified woman died Sunday night when she fell off a cliff at the Douglas Preserve, Santa Barbara police reported.

The woman was dead when emergency personnel reached her at the base of the cliff, Lt. Doug Kresky said.

Her boyfriend, who had been with her at the popular oceanside preserve before the 8 p.m. fall, was questioned but is not in custody for the incident, Kresky said. The boyfriend was taken into custody for an unrelated warrant.

Detectives and the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department coroner’s office are continuing to investigate the woman’s death. Her name has not been released pending notification of her next of kin. The boyfriend’s name was also not released so as not to identify the woman, Kresky said. — S.C.

Police urge drivers to abstain Had a drink? Don’t drive.

That was the message Santa Barbara police were sending to holiday party-goers after officers arrested 11 people for driving under the influence last weekend.

Police set up a pair of checkpoints both Friday and Saturday nights, Police Sgt. Kim Fryslie said.

Friday’s checkpoints in the 2900 block of Las Positas Road and the 200 block of State Street netted two DUI arrests, with seven other people cited for no driver’s license or driving under a suspended license. A total of eight vehicles were impounded.

In Saturday night checkpoints in the 700 block of East Canon Perdido Street and the 400 block of Garden Street , there were seven DUI arrests. Another seven people were cited for license violations, as well as two drivers arrested for felony warrants, with 13 vehicles towed.

An additional two DUI arrests brought the weekend count to 11.

“People should be reminded that police are actively seeking people for DUI and if they are caught, they will be arrested,’’ Fryslie said.

In addition, people driving without a license, driving on a suspended license, or California residents driving with an out-of-state license are considered unlicensed. The vehicles they are driving — whether their own or

Gleason refuses to sign off  Embattled Metropolitan Transit District general manager Gary Gleason is not going quietly into the night.

MTD directors announced his retirement Nov. 11, but Gleason refused to sign the necessary paperwork by the Dec. 17 deadline, and now the board is trying to fire the controversial manager.

MTD spokesperson David Damiano said the board will convene between Christmas and the New Year to decide the scope of the unprecedented investigation into whether Gleason should be fired for cause.

Damiano said MTD directors placed Gleason on unpaid administrative leave Dec. 18, and there is no estimate how long the investigation could take or what cause the bus agency has to fire him.

Gleason has been on paid leave since his retirement announcement, capping months of controversy regarding bus contracts, bus fares and management style.

Gleason refused comment via his wife. His lawyer Jim Herman also did not return calls. — D.D.

Strike to outlast the holiday season It’s going to be anything but a happy holiday for the thousands of picketing grocery workers who continue their strike to retain higher wages and benefits amid demands for cuts from their employers.

United Food and Commercial Workers union spokesperson Ellen

Anreder said the UFCW removed Teamster pickets at distribution centers Dec. 22 in a good faith move to restart bargaining.

Anreder said the negotiations went nowhere, however,

“The employers could not have cared less. There being nothing else to discuss, the federal mediator reluctantly suspended talks indefinitely,” Anreder said.

Anreder was unable to provide figures on how many UFCW members have crossed the picket lines and returned to work, but local sources say the number increases every week the strike drags on.

Strikers subside on a meager weekly strike stipend and donations, which have come from many nonprofits agencies throughout the county. — D.D.

Ventura man suspected in auto burglaries A string of auto burglaries at the the Hot Springs and Cold Springs trailheads in Montecito may have been cleared up with the arrest of a 19-year-old Ventura man, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies said.

After a number of burglaries were reported over the past couple weeks, deputies developed information on a possible suspect and his vehicle. At 10:15 a.m. Monday, deputies conducting surveillance at both trailheads spotted the suspected vehicle entering the area.

  The driver and sole occupant, Chad Stevenson Hill, was allegedly identified as the suspect and booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail on multiple counts of burglary. His bail was set at $10,000. — S.C.

Four arrested in gang-related fight Four Carpinteria men were arrested following a Friday afternoon fight that injured two people at Casitas Plaza in Carpinteria, Santa Barbara County sheriff’s deputies said.

Deputies who arrived at the scene at 1000 Casitas Pass Road found a fight in progress involving about 10 people, one armed with a painting brush extension rod, deputies said. Seeing the officers, all but two people fled.  Deputies stopped four of the fleeing suspects, some of whom had been injured in the 3:40 p.m. fight.

Arrested on charges with battery with serious injury were Jorge Martinez, 21, Rene Ocampo, 18, Fernando Martinez, 18, and a 16-year-old juvenile. Fernando Martinez and the juvenile were also charged with resisting arrest. Fernando Martinez, Jorge Martinez and Ocampo were booked into the Santa Barbara County Jail with bail set at $30,000. The juvenile was later released to the custody of his parents.

Paramedics treated the two men who remained at the shopping center, who said they had been attacked by at least eight suspects. The two men, from Ventura, received moderate head and facial injuries and planned to get further treatment at a hospital. The investigation is continuing, but is believed to be gang related, deputies said. — S.C.