Cover Story
Head game: SLO County’s athletes focus on the detection and prevention of concussions in youth sports
It could have happened anywhere, but it happened in PE. Casey Lieberman, an avid soccer player from Arroyo Grande—known by her family and teammates for her willingness to put herself in harm’s way during games—was in class as a freshman at Arroyo Grande High School last February when a classmate drop-kicked a soccer ball from…
Bingeable: River
When? 2015 | Where? BBC One; now streaming What makes a great detective? How does the stress of the job manifest itself? What coping mechanisms keep an investigator from slipping into depression? These are the sorts of questions River is interested in. The six-episode BBC One series focuses on John River (Stellan Skarsgård), a brilliant…
Learn by moving: Cal Poly’s Orchesis presents 46th annual dance show
View a slideshow of the rehearsal for Transcend. To transcend is to be so absorbed that you go beyond the present moment or movement, going above the previously set limits. It’s a fitting theme for Cal Poly’s student dance company Orchesis’ 46th annual concert, Transcend, which features a smattering of pieces that go outside the…
Atascadero’s First Annual Tamale Festival attracts huge crowd
View a slideshow of the Tamale Festival. It’s almost 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 23, as I approach Atascadero’s first annual Tamale Festival at Pavilion on the Lake, and it appears that the star of the show is already missing. “I can’t find any tamales,” Joey Morrow, of San Miguel, says. “They’re getting more, but…
Paso Planning Commission approves assisted living facility
The Paso Robles Planning Commission approved the revised plans for a three-story assisted living facility on South River Road in a 4-3 vote on Jan. 26. The commission’s approval included a condition that the width of the top floor of the building’s south section be reduced by 70 linear feet, along with some other minor…
What is the secret to good health?
Debra Fogg store owner “Waking up happy every day.” Skyler Hunt server “Having a wholehearted intention to be healthy.” Matthew Gussenhoven delivery services “Perseverance. Gotta keep going no matter how much it hurts.” Whitney O’Leary hair stylist “Understanding the connections between physical, emotional, and spiritual health.”
Surface tension: Proposed conversion of Del Mar Park’s rink to pickleball courts has roller derby players worried about the loss of space
Skateboarders and a few rollerbladers swarm around the skate park in San Luis Obispo’s Santa Rosa Park on a recent sunny Sunday afternoon; dogs frolick through the park; and children bounce around on the playground and the green grass. On the roller hockey rink, the Central Coast Roller Derby (CCRD) is holding its annual Derby…
Move through it: Silvia Suarez takes over Holistic Movement Center in Morro Bay
The number 108 is sacred in yoga. It’s considered the number that demonstrates the wholeness of existence. Yogis all around the world can be found doing 108 sun salutations or moving their fingers across 108 mala beads as they meditate. It’s a big number when doing 108 chaturangas or yoga push-ups that the sun salutations…
Cougars & Mustangs
There is an unfair amount of unspoken stigma attached to community college, particularly in a town boasting as notable an institution as Cal Poly. It is easy to be convinced that you just didn’t try hard enough in high school, or just aren’t smart enough for a four-year institution. It is the hope of this…
More letters fly between Arroyo Grande officials and insurance carrier
Letters and emails continue back and forth after the city of Arroyo Grande’s liability insurance carrier raised concerns that comments made by unnamed elected officials about city staff could lead to possible legal action. The original letter, sent to the city from the California Joint Powers Insurance Authority (CJPIA) on Dec. 16, stated that the…
Arroyo Grande and Morro Bay ban expanded polystyrene foam
Both Arroyo Grande and Morro Bay recently took the first step to ban the use of expanded polystyrene foam in their cities. They considered the new ordinances on Jan. 26 as part of a packaged proposal from local environmental groups that advocate against the use of expanded polystyrene foam, often called EPS or “Styrofoam” after…
Caltrans cleans up a salty mess on Hwy. 101 from Cuesta Grade to Avila
If you’re one of the many Californians convinced that anything Caltrans does takes longer than it needs to, think again. In the early morning hours of Jan. 22, a California Department of Transportation highway maintenance crew cleaned up a long, thick trail of rock salt that neatly peppered the side of the highway for miles.…
SLO’s divided Air Pollution Control District board votes to keep executive director
SLO County Air Pollution Control District Executive Officer Larry Allen will remain in his position for another year, after a deeply divided APCD board voted to extend his contract at a Jan. 27 meeting. While the 7-5 vote means Allen will keep his job, he will only receive a 2.5 percent cost of living increase…
SLO County staff recommends denial of Phillips 66 rail spur
Phillips 66’s controversial plans to build a rail spur and increase the number of oil hauling trains moving through Central Coast cities could be derailed due to a recent report released by SLO County planning staff. Staff released the report to the SLO County Planning Commission and recommended that commissioners deny the project at an…
Fluoride’s got to go
In response to the New Times cover story “Drop By Drop” (Jan. 21), I’d like to propose that SLO citizens concerned about our water also take the necessary steps to ban fluoridation of the city’s water supply. To borrow a statement from the commentary piece also in that issue, “Affordable Housing”: “Our city, like the…
Debbie Arnold should stay out of Paso basin business
It has often been repeated in public meetings by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors that county staff and the board would not advocate for or against the proposed Paso Robles Basin Water District. Staff and those supervisors who support the formation of the locally controlled and managed public water district have honorably…
Get rid of bullet train, get rid of new taxes
According to an article I read this morning, Gov. Jerry Brown wants our state lawmakers to “bite the bullet and enact new fees and taxes” to pay for repairs to California’s crumbling highways. Really? I don’t think there is anyone in the United States who doesn’t know that we pay more gas taxes than most…
Some Cal Poly queer history
Under President Dr. Robert E. Kennedy (between 1967 and 1978), Cal Poly was the only public campus West of the Mississippi that forced the Gay Student Union (GSU) to sue to become a recognized campus organization; a study by Helen Goo showed that more than 30 percent of Cal Poly varsity players given an attitude…
Shame on cronyism in South County
After years of struggle between right and might, the Knudson Audit Report presented Wednesday, Jan. 20, at the South County Sanitation District Board Meeting in Arroyo Grande proved that something has stunk in sewer district management practices for more than a decade. The report will now be sent to District Attorney Dan Dow. As a…
Balancing act
Like most Californians I cherish our long, beautiful coastline. Whether we’re riding waves or roads, walking beaches or bluffs, or watching the sun set into the sea from inland or right on the continent’s edge, the coastal realm connects us to each other and to the place we call home. It belongs to us all.…
False advertising
Telling the truth is way overrated. I mean, it’s so much easier—not to mention fun—to misrepresent yourself to get the desired effect you want. Take Phillips 66 and their rail spur project for instance. They’re acting like New Times and the Arroyo Grande Times-Press-Recorder have both endorsed their project, which opponents argue will endanger the…
Nurture the Moon offers massage therapy with focus on women’s health
The human experience can be chock-full of tensions and stresses, fears and apprehensions, and traumas and illnesses that try to bring our spirit down. A vital question for healing from those experiences and patterns is, where in our bodies do those disturbances manifest? Local massage therapist Miya Tischler says they like to hide in the…
Libertine Brewing Company’s Saison Fronce and BarrelHouse Brewing Co.’s Wild Dapple Fire
I dare you not to sound at least a little snobby as you order a glass Libertine’s new “Saison Fronce.” Of course, the SLO tasting room and brewery is far from fancy: It’s a down home place where vinyl Janis Joplin records spin and you can even purchase a wicked cool frisbee for your next…
For your health
Seeds have sprouted! Seeds Smoothie and Juice Bar is now open for breakfast, brunch, and any time you want a healthy pick-me-up in downtown SLO. You can even build your own Greek yogurt parfait with virtuous add-ons like chia and pumpkin seeds, cocoa, and even bee pollen, which I hear is very good for the…
Ancient grains for modern times: Kandarian Organic Farms is growing grains, beans, and superseeds of the future
Larry Kandarian, 70, looks like an old-school farmer. His tanned hands are weathered and creased, like well-worn leather. He wears a dusty ball cap with a graying ponytail, and you can bet your boots he harbors an encyclopedic knowledge of the plants he’s grown, right down to the Latin names. Maybe you’ve seen him on…
Americana singer-songwriter Don Lampson and The Vigilante String Alliance celebrate songs old and new on Jan. 30 at Steynberg Gallery
Don Lampson’s face is a roadmap of his life, a well-creased travelogue of a guy who was a rebellious teenage greaser, an amateur exotic animal handler, an unrepentant redneck, a humble Vietnam vet, an unhardened former prison guard, and a lifelong musician whose voice sounds like a sack of well polished river stones dragged behind…
Clubs 1/28/16 – 2/4/16
Goin’ South THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Rd., Shell Beach, 773-5000, cliffsresort.com. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Rd. in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the Pismo Beach location every Fri. and Sat. from 6-9pm. Tennessee Jimmy Harrell and Doc Stoltey play on…
ARTS Obispo’s Poetry Out Loud celebrates 10th year
If you can’t be a poet, memorizing some of the greatest poets’ eternal words might just be the next best thing. The San Luis Obispo County Poetry Out Loud Competition is presented by ARTS Obispo and will celebrate its 10th year on Feb. 19 from 7 to 9 p.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship in…
Glass sculptures of Claudia Ariss on display at Big Sky Cafe
There’s beauty in the contrasting dynamic of strength and vulnerability. Glass, which embodies both these characteristics, is the medium of choice for Arroyo Grande artist Claudia Ariss. A collection of her glass sculptures, titled Rock, Sand & Fire: Beyond Traditional Glass, is currently on display at Big Sky Café in downtown San Luis Obispo. These…
Only here for the music: SLO Symphony hosts first female conductor
Caught up as she was in the magic of the different sounds of all the instruments in the orchestra, time and time again the violinist missed her own entrance, until one day, when she decided to be the person leading everyone in perfect harmony. Laura Jackson has worked as a conductor for orchestras for more…
