Cover Story
Las Pilitas Quarry: A rock and a hard place
It’s called the “Gateway to the Carrizo,” but many people know Santa Margarita as a unique community where neighbors look out for each other while also trying to stay out of each others’ business. About 11 miles north of the city of San Luis Obispo, a strong social libertarian wind blows through the diverse rural…
Gliding over all: Camp Roberts hosts drones, defense contractors, and tech experts
Though it was only the size of a personal pizza, a sizeable crowd of journalists, defense contractors, and military officers clustered around the drone hovering at eye-level. Behind the controls of the InstantEye drone, Thomas Vaneck of Boston-area tech company Physical Sciences Inc., grinned, and flicked the joystick upwards. The assembled crowd oohed and aahed…
What would you not want to live next to?
Kenneth Ohr former student, Austria “I wouldn’t want to live near Siberia. It’s cold and lonely.” Andres Romero Assistant Manager at The Habit “I wouldn’t want to live next to an interstate. I’ve never seen myself living in a big city.” Kamini Georgallis homemaker “A nuclear plant. Just the danger of it.” Joe Vogel Telecom…
Modern zeal: New local documentary’s premiere coincides with unsealing of a 100-year old Masonic time capsule
It began with three questions: What brought you to your profession? What is your vision for that profession in 100 years? What would you write in a letter to the next “you”? Though the brief inquiries may appear straightforward and painless, the introspection required to answer them meaningfully is anything but. Jennifer Alton found this…
Atascadero public works battling stink and shrinkage of lake
Although a dry summer and algae death at Lake Atascadero have caused headaches and prompted plugged noses for locals, recent technological measures and the winding-down of summer have stabilized the environment at the city-owned body of water. Though the lake’s volume is only at approximately one-third of its full capacity, Atascadero public works director Russ…
Road rage escalates to gunshots, suicide in Arroyo Grande
What started as a simple left-hand turn in rural Arroyo Grande quickly turned violent and tragic. Robert Hernandez, 56, of Avila Beach, yelled at a driver who tried to pass him, fired gunshots at the fleeing vehicle, and then—roughly 90 minutes later—shot and killed himself in front of Sheriff’s Department deputies and detectives on Aug.…
County to bring in 24 new hires for health system reform
As the state of California has dropped the ball with leading local governments toward implementation of the federal Affordable Care Act—or “Obamacare,” as it’s popularly called—the county’s Department of Social Services is preparing for a massive overhaul of the local health-care system, according to the county’s head of social services. On Aug. 13, Social Services…
SLO City LEDs the way to streetlight efficiency
By the end of August, city residents will find the nighttime streets of San Luis Obispo a little brighter, and the future a little greener. Thanks to a public-private partnership approved by the City Council in December, the city is now replacing its antiquated fleet of high-pressure sodium lamps with brighter and more energy-efficient light-emitting…
Fracking’s back: A Santa Barbara report brings the controversial practice to the fore
A recent offshore discovery in the Santa Barbara Channel might help salvage the failed drive to tighten California’s laws on hydraulic fracturing, also known as fracking. Fracking involves pumping large amounts of water, sand, and chemicals into oil wells to loosen deposits segregated by walls of rock. The legislative session began with a swell of…
New fundraiser for the SLO Poetry Festival
The San Luis Obispo Poetry Festival will turn 30 this year. To commemorate this milestone, festival co-founder and curator Kevin Patrick Sullivan is raising money to not only pay the event’s featured poets, but also fund a literary journal called Language of the Soul: A Celebration of 30 Years at the San Luis Obispo Poetry…
Russell Brand brings his world tour to the Fremont
British comedian, author, and actor Russell Brand has made a career of making his private life public, from his history of drug use (he’s been clean for more than a decade) to the most humiliating moment of his life (waking up naked in a strange apartment full of Eastern European refugees, apparently). But there’s more…
SLOMA screens Beautiful Losers
Make something from nothing” is the tagline of Beautiful Losers, the 2008 documentary by Aaron Rose and Joshua Leonard. It’s oddly fitting that Rose and Leonard’s film would have an imperative as its slogan: Beautiful Losers follows a loose movement of DIY artists in the ’90s who inadvertently affected the parallel worlds of art, design,…
Evani Lupinek’s dreamlike vistas hover on the edge of abstraction
To Paso Robles artist Evani Lupinek, home is a relative term. Born in the Netherlands, Lupinek insists she’s “not all that Dutch.” When she was 9, her family moved to Australia, though Lupinek says she doesn’t consider herself A ustralian. In her youth, she led a relatively nomadic life, living in Europe and Canada and…
Castoro Cellars hosts Beaverstock to celebrate 30 years in business
How would you celebrate three decades of making dam fine wines at Castoro Cellars? Owners Niels and Bimmer Udsen couldn’t resist making it an unforgettable occasion by hosting a music festival in their vineyard garden of Eden—it’s a two-day, Labor Day celebration of fine wine, artisan beer, upscale truck foods, and an amazing lineup of…
Vina Robles 2012 Viognier Paso Robles
This is one of the most elegant, refreshing Paso Robles Viogniers I’ve had in quite a while. It’s grown on the estate’s highest point in Huerhuero Vineyard in the Templeton Gap where cool Pacific breezes moderate the high daytime temperatures. Fermented in stainless steel and neutral oak barrels to retain the variety’s natural fruit flavors,…
Ch-ch-ch-ch cherry bomb! Runaways singer Cherie Currie plays SLO Brew
They paved the way for bands like the Go-Go’s and The Bangles. They were called “jailbait rock.” Some critics mocked them. Many fans didn’t know what to think of them. And (un-ironically) they were huge in Japan. I speak, of course, about The Runaways, the band featuring Joan Jett, Lita Ford, and Cherie Currie, the…
Taqueria Santa Cruz takes San Luis Obispo by storm
While most 11-year-olds were outside playing, Edgar Valenica was helping out at his family’s restaurant, Taqueria Santa Cruz. Eighteen years later, Valencia is co-owner of San Luis Obispo’s newest Mexican restaurant and his family’s third eatery. The 22-year-old family business started out in Santa Cruz and now has two locations under the same name. Valencia…
Cougars & Mustangs: Cuesta College is back in session
*Muttering to self, pacing, jittery movements. Muttering gets louder, hand gestures become increasingly more animated* OK! *Claps hands together* Pep talk time … . In the space of a few hours, you’ll be removed from your beach chair throne, clothed more fully, equipped with an absurd amount of weight on your back, and sent off…
Kona’s offers a sandwich eating contest that’ll test your stomach’s abilities
There’s something tried and true about eating contests being male dominated. I don’t know if it’s testosterone driven, or if women are intimidated, but when school kicks in again, I would love to see a sorority vs. fraternity challenge take place at Kona’s. I mean, eating contests are disgusting, but overall very entertaining. Kona’s sandwich-maker…
Boys will be boys
A firefighter, police officer, and fire chief walk into a bar. The firefighter winds up beating a man to a pulp in a fight, the police officer sneaks down to Mexico and attempts to smuggle an enormous quantity of pharmaceuticals illegally into the United States, and the fire chief helps the firefighter get his job…
Paso is in crisis
We are in a crisis situation. This is a situation of fairness now, to those who have been and who stand to be most devastated and affected by the loss of their wells. We will feel permanent repercussions if the purging of our aquifer doesn’t stop now. Supervisors Hill and Gibson have both expressed their…
Unity is possible
Race is not the big national issue. Jobs are. Obama shows understanding, not bias. If Mr. Page calls Obama biased (“The economy is paramount,” Aug. 1), then he should also call the white president from Texas biased. Every person brings his own knowledge and experience to his job. And yes, Mr. Page, Obama can unite…
Stop!
That person panhandling at the stop sign would not be there if you did not give him money. If they need help, there are appropriate places to get it—not at our stop signs. Stop giving them a reason to panhandle there. Stop giving them money.
Dear supervisors,
I am a lifelong resident of the Paso area, a vineyard manager, and a new home owner in the Jardine area. I attended the board meeting on July 9 in support for Pro Groundwater Equity, my community, and myself, for I too am an overlier on the Paso Water Basin. I hope now you have…
You don’t know
Sandra, your comment, “Obviously totally guilty” and the “clearly biased, all white jury” was very telling about your attitudes (“Your racism writer showed his true colors,” Aug. 8). Were you there? Was Obama there? He is the president; he has no business trying to influence a “jury of his peers.” Your statement that he was…
Pointing out race issues doesn’t make you a racist
Regarding Otis Page’s opinion “The economy is paramount” (Aug. 1), Sandra Blakeman calls Otis a “lifelong racist” (“Your racism writer showed his true colors,” Aug. 8). This begs the question as to what does Blakeman mean by using the term “racist”? Does she mean Otis as a racist is “intentionally harmful,” that his observation is…
Racism is still alive and well
In his opinion piece in the Aug. 1 issue of New Times (“The economy is paramount”), Otis Page, the often-times rather conservative opinion letter writer in various local publications, outlines a long litany of historical examples and anecdotes to make the labored point that people tend to develop or mimic prejudices against persons and groups…
