Cover Story
Chew on this
A quiet revolution is stirring in local kitchens. All over San Luis Obispo County, people are claiming their right to decide what goes in their mouths and their power to choose where it comes from. Residents with various income levels are filling their forks with fresh food from local farms and fields as the local…
Second officer files lawsuit against Arroyo Grande police
A second female police officer has filed a civil lawsuit against the Arroyo Grande Police Department and its chief, seeking unspecified damages for alleged sexual harassment, discrimination, and retaliation. According to court documents obtained by New Times, senior officer Michelle Cota filed a lawsuit Dec. 22, six days after a similar lawsuit from another female…
CPUC denies PG&E Diablo funding application
An administrative law judge dismissed Pacific Gas & Electric’s application, filed nearly two years ago, to use customer money in its efforts to keep the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant operating for another 30 years. PG&E has requested $80 million in ratepayer funding to pay for its federal license renewal for both reactors at Diablo…
Get outta sphere
Freddie Sarenana found himself in hot water because he couldn’t mind his own business. But that’s just one side of the story. Sarenana, 31, of Atascadero, thought his friends were being harassed by police and began taping what he saw. But he got too close to the action; on Dec. 9, a jury convicted him…
Would you rather live in a house with the entire cast of Jersey Shore or a previous Intervention star?
Jules Giese student “Intervention, because I don’t like the people on Jersey Shore. They’re annoying.” Nadia Nostrati student/Bank of America employee “Intervention. I think it would be a better learning experience—although it might be fun to live with the cast of Jersey Shore.” Stephanie Dwyer shift lead at Peet’s “I would have to choose Jersey…
The soul of winter
Winters in Paso Robles are hardly white. They’re more of a brown. But white, wherever you are, is nevertheless the soul of winter. Lonely, unforgiving, cold, and clean, it is more a void than a color. But just as the death of winter begets the promise of spring, white can also represent infinite possibility, a…
In defense of donuts
Weary travelers would rub their bleary eyes in disbelief at the sight of the neon “Krispy Kreme” sign. They had made it. Some might have traveled hours to get to the nearest location. Others had drained local ATMS and were ready to do anything to anyone who stood between them and those glazed, legalized narcotics.…
Piper Heidsieck NV Brut Champagne
This exquisite, pale gold bubbly will make people think it’s worth far more than the $31.99 you’ll pay for it on sale at BevMo! I found it on sale for $24.99 at Costco, and you don’t have to be a member to buy alcoholic beverages there. Elegant and beautifully balanced, it has forward fruit flavors…
Margerum 2010 Pinot Gris Klickitat
This beautiful white wine was so impressive, I bought six bottles—but I should have bought a case. It’s been consistently impressive. This pretty, floral white offers notes of sweet citrus like Meyer lemon and orange with highlights of lime and tangy green apple. It ends on a slightly sweet note, but that does nothing to…
Chef Neil Smith’s worldly cuisine
Dining at Windows on the Water in Morro Bay, I discovered that Chef Neil Smith totally gets it: When preparing fine cuisine, it doesn’t matter how pretty the presentation is if everything on the plate isn’t delicious. On my first day at the California Culinary Academy in San Francisco, chef/instructor Jean-Michel Jeudy taught us that…
We’ve got the English Beat
As the holidays draw near and students finish their finals and head home, the local music scene takes a bit of a break, too. It’s slim pickings for concertgoers over the next week, but if you need to escape from family or just want to shake that holly jolly butt upon the dance floor, there…
Wild Christmas
If some jerk held a gun to my head and gave me 15 seconds to name two things cooler than monkeys, I’d probably blurt out “Ninjas!” and spend the last 14 seconds of my life hemming and hawing before getting my monkey-loving brains blasted out everywhere.* It would be messy and tragic, but it would…
A life lived in pictures
Artist Josephine Crawford seems to walk a tidy line between practical and outlandish. Her recent project—a series of small paintings, each depicting one year of her long life—was initially inspired, not by some cathartic urge to chronicle her years on Earth, but by Aaron Brothers having a big sale on 8-by-10-inch canvases. She stocked up…
REID CAIN, owner of Dr. Cain’s Comics and arts renaissance man
NEW TIMES Phew. What do you do aside from run Dr. Cain’s? CAIN I’m in three bands. The first band I junctioned is a honkeytonk country western band called Red Eye Junction. We’ve been together for four years. I’m in a band called Magazine Dirty, which has a ’70s punk rock sound. I’m also in…
Let’s take back Christmas
Over several years now, government, city, and private industries have robbed us of our Christian liberties and the freedom to celebrate Christmas. Removing nativity scenes from public places, referring to Christmas trees as “holiday trees,” Christmas vacation as “winter break,” and excessive use of “Happy Holidays” erode our freedoms to celebrate Christmas as we have…
We must protect the 14th Amendment
Do we have the appetite for change, or are we just going along for the ride? If we want to have equal representation, we are going to have to ask the Supreme Court to revisit the Buckley v. Valeo ruling upholding the ruling that holds money as personal property and the use of money as…
Join us to stand up for safe access
Regarding “Nothing comic about it” (Nov. 17): Thank you for reminding the public that many of the “SLO 12” arrestees have yet to be tried. Meanwhile, they are being drained economically, physically, emotionally and vocationally until their innocence and their compliance with Prop. 215 can be proved true. Pre-trial hearings, motions, etc., continue—at the expense…
Cuesta has something very special when it comes to arts
As a faculty member in the Performing Arts Division at Cuesta College, it is my understanding that the Division was offered the opportunity to write a rebuttal to New Times’ Dec. 8 cover story, “Curtains?” I wish to be clear that I am writing as an individual. This is not a rebuttal from the division…
Sour grapes
History has been a topic often mentioned with a professor of history on the Republican ticket. I recently re-read The Grapes of Wrath, and the parallels to today are striking. The poor in America are in better shape than they were in 1938, the American poor are better off than the rest of the world,…
Now that’s a good argument
I must say that, for once, Mr. Otis Page has made a point that I can agree with (“Gingrich presents a two-party dilemma,” Dec. 15). With his record in Congress demonstrating no ethics whatsoever, with his total willingness to accept millions of dollars for endorsing the most corrupt corporate criminals both in the United States…
So from whom should we be taking money?
Regarding the letter by Dave Raleigh about taxing the rich (“How about we really tax the rich?” Dec. 15), where do you draw the line? What do you consider rich? I know some people who consider making $50,000 per year as being rich. Does making or having $1 million in property or the bank make…
Thanks for the odd memories
Your article on Oddworld Inhabitants (“The oddysee, exoddus, and wrath of Oddworld Inhabitants,” Dec. 15) brings back many memories. We were the architectural firm that worked with Lorne Lanning and Sherri McKenna in developing their work space, above the “Ross For Less” store. Needless to say, the simple design for their office was indicative of…
When 72 years old you reach, look as good you will not
I sat down to read Ryan Miller’s “A new hope” (Dec. 15) just after watching a two-day Star Wars marathon on Spike TV (all six movies). After watching some documentaries on the History Channel, with experts explaining the relevancy of George Lucas’ ideas, I became a fan. One could almost formulate a religion based on…
Manage Sweet Springs wisely
Regarding Lynette Tornatzky’s commentary “Eucalyptus crowd out natives” (Dec. 1): The great fallacy in the Morro Coast Audubon Society’s plan to kill the biggest living things in Los Osos is the chapter fails to see any value in those eucalyptus trees, which have been there for nearly a century. The chapter wants, like the Tea…
The streets shall run brown
Call me a sentimental old fool, but I think there’s something special about this time of year. The weather gets blustery—by California standards, which is another way of saying that I spent the weekend engineering insulation for my flip-flops. People are cheerful, when they’re not bitching about how stressful the holidays are. Gingerbread men and…
Cougars & Mustangs
With it being the holiday season and all, it stands to reason that a veritable grab bag of happenings on both local campuses will be offered up. Santa isn’t known for playing favorites, and therefore we’ll look at goodies from Cuesta and Cal Poly. Up on 101, Cuesta’s North County Ambassadors are providing assistance to…
Wearing the gown
Audrey Fleming was going through radiation for breast cancer when she realized something simple could be done to improve her outlook on spending so much time in and out of the hospital. “At the hospital, I’d get a little cubby to put my things in when I’d go through radiation, and every time I’d go…
The battle for Shandon
To get to Shandon from the 101, exit Highway 46, travel 15 miles, turn right on West Centre Street, and travel approximately two miles to the town center. Directions to this town bear explanation because, with a population of about 1,200, less than half a percent of the people in San Luis Obispo County live…
Reward increases for leads in a fatal Oceano shooting
With no leads and hesitant eye witnesses, the San Luis Obispo County Crime Stoppers Program has increased the reward from $1,000 to $5,000 for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the person or people who shot and killed a 17-year-old Oceano resident. Seventeen-year-old Gabriel Salgado was shot in the head and killed while…
Supes approve a more than $7 million sewer contract
San Luis Obispo County supervisors were unanimous in a decision to make a critical step toward building a new sewer for Los Osos—but at least one of them wasn’t happy about it. “I’m going to say now that when these construction costs … when these bids come in, they better be low or I’m not…
Water company ordered to issue refunds
The state’s chief regulating agency for public utilities has levied fines on Golden State Water Co., and ordered the company to issue nearly $10 million in refunds to its customers. Customers in San Luis Obispo County won’t see much of that sum, however. The California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) announced on Dec. 15 that it…
Cambria sewage spill hits Moonstone Beach
Approximately 10,000 gallons of sewage were released into the Santa Rosa Creek near Cambria on Dec. 17 before making their way to the ocean at Moonstone Beach Park. The San Luis Obispo County Public Health Department issued a warning that the public was to avoid contact with water from the creek or near the ocean…
Sexual harassment and retaliation are alleged against Arroyo Grande PD
An Arroyo Grande police officer filed a civil lawsuit against the police department and its chief, alleging a culture of sexual discrimination and retaliation against herself and two other female officers. Kimberly Martin—a 13-year veteran of the Arroyo Grande Police Department and the 2002 officer of year—made a number of allegations in a complaint filed…
