Cover Story
Speaking up: Protests, an election, and so much more in 2018
Voices took to the streets, city halls, county chambers, and the internet (but we aren’t going to go there!) this year as the election took off and national politics hit home. It wasn’t a quiet year—and maybe that’s a good thing. The more voices the merrier, right? Residents and candidates debated local issues such as…
Cal Poly, SLO Noor provide free health services in North Santa Barbara County
Cal Poly and local nonprofit SLO Noor Foundation are collaborating to provide free women’s health and newborn care in Santa Maria and Guadalupe. Suzanne Phelan, who heads up Cal Poly’s Center for Health Research, said the partnership came together easily. Dean Wendt, the dean of the Math and Science Department that oversees the center, is…
Cellarhand confidential: Darren Delmore publishes wine-stained sequel set down under
Darren does Australia Learn more about Darren Delmore at darrendelmore.com. Purchase the author’s new book on Amazon. When we open the book on author Darren Delmore’s life in Lucky Country: Confessions of a Vagabond Cellarhand, the scene is pretty blah. He’s broke, he’s divorced, and he’s bartending. It’s evident from the get-go that the writer…
Investigators seek more information on murder suspect
Carlo Alberto Fuentes Flores has officially been charged with murder, but investigators are still asking the public to come forward with more information about the 42-year-old Paso Robles man. Flores was arrested on Dec. 18 in connection with the death of Nancy Colleen Woodrum, a 62-year-old hair salon and Airbnb operator from Paso Robles, and…
Go glitzy or go home
Happy (almost) new year! Ring in the new year with these shimmery shindigs: Madonna Inn will host an all-inclusive (tax and gratuity included) evening of fine menu offerings, champagne, dessert, music and dancing. Plus, a classic midnight balloon drop (how magical). For reservations, call (805) 543-3000 … Get dressed up and make your way to…
Coast Unified appoints interim assistant superintendent
Two months after Coast Unified School District’s superintendent resigned, the school board appointed an interim assistant superintendent during its Dec. 13 meeting and reported positive fiscal health—for now. Board President Samuel Shalhoub told New Times in an email that the board unanimously appointed Kyle Martin to act as interim assistant superintendent. Martin is the current…
Beers and beards
Dig these down-to-earth dance parties: Have a “poor but sexy” 2019 with Kreuzberg! The downtown SLO coffee shop offers wine, house-brewed beer, and now a full liquor bar! Your ticket includes a welcome drink, apps, photo booth, champagne toast, party favors, balloon drop, and tunes from DJ Malik … SLO Brew in downtown SLO will…
Salinas River bank shored up to protect Paso wells
It took more than 10,000 tons of boulders and $738,000 of city funds, but a critical Paso Robles water wellfield is now purportedly safe from an eroding Salinas River bank. Paso officials said they recently completed work on the emergency Salinas River bank stabilization project, launched in June 2018. Heavy rains during March 2018 ripped…
Local love
Pop your top: Looking for something fizzy and sparkly to pop on the big night? You don’t have to look farther than your own backyard! Try Bianchi, Cass, Clautiere, Derby, Jack Creek Cellars, Le Vigne, Niner, Opolo, Tobin James, Vina Robles, among other winning wineries producing fab sparkling wines… SLO County Restaurant Month runs through…
SLO residents still have time to sign up for Covered California
SLO County residents have until Jan. 15 to sign up for health care through the state’s Covered California marketplace. Covered California extended its open enrollment period past Dec.15. Individuals who signed up by Dec. 21 will be able to begin coverage on Jan 1. Those who sign up by Jan. 15 will have coverage starting…
Check please!
Oh yes, it’s time again! You have a tried-and-true excuse to dine out and indulge in all the locally prepared goodness popping up on plates across the county this winter. I know I’m repeating myself, but during January Restaurant month participating restaurants across the region will offer special menus of three courses at $30 to…
Partners in Equestrian Therapy is raising funds for beloved horse Chief Four Socks
Not every horse is ideal for equestrian therapy. No one knows this better than Melanie Williams-Mahan, executive director for the Atascadero-based Partners in Equestrian Therapy (PET). Since 1994, the nonprofit has run programs for children and adults with disabilities as well as for military veterans. “They have to be able to deal with a lot…
A special holiday greeting
It’s becoming abundantly clear that Democrats are not willing to accept the choice of the 60 million who voted for Donald Trump. Instead, they’re bent on persecuting him, his family, his friends, his associates until such time as he’s run out of office by impeachment, resignation, or the next election. And they threaten that it…
A Trumpian version of Christian charity
It must take courage for someone to speak out against the injustices of political correctness and civility, for a bold civic leader to stand up against the cruel shackles of the separation of church and state, and for a true hero to stand up for the affluent white victims of the homeless crisis. Al and…
Yes, New Year’s Eve is on a Monday night, but you can still party close to home
I don’t know about you guys, but I have to work on Monday, Dec. 31, so I’m not leaving town this year for New Year’s Eve. Yes, that’s definitely a sad face emoji—the one with blue waterfalls of tears streaming down both sides of its unhappy yellow face. There are plenty of shows to hit…
Demand action from Congress
During 2018, global greenhouse gas emissions continued to increase and the resulting climate disruption losses were devastating. These extreme losses occurred in many places. In California, drought-driven wildfires resulted in scores of deaths, staggering personal financial loss, and significant economic injury to businesses. Climate refugees, previously only in distant countries, now include U.S. citizens in…
‘Mary Poppins Returns’ is a worthy sequel to its 1964 original
MARY POPPINS RETURNS What’s it rated? PG What’s it worth, Anna? Full price What’s it worth, Glen? Full price Where’s it showing? Bay, Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Park, Stadium Rob Marshall (Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, Pirates of the Caribbean: One Stranger Tides, Into the Woods) directs this sequel to the 1964 classic about a magical…
Energy to think about
Has anybody ever considered putting wind vanes on top of the three towers in Morro Bay? Seems to me they could generate a substantial amount of energy. James Walter Los Osos
Bingeable: Schitt’s Creek
When? 2015-present What’s it rated? TV-14 Where’s it available? Netflix, Amazon Prime, YouTube Think of Schitt’s Creek as an inverted Beverly Hillbillies. Instead of poor people striking it rich and loading up the truck to move to Beverly Hills, the rich Rose family loses it all and is forced to retreat to their sole remaining…
Something stinks in this county
Shredder, I really love your opinion on what’s going on around SLO County, especially with the so-called justice system and political BS. Take U.S. Rep. Salud Carbajal (D-Santa Barbara): that joker claims to be helping veterans. When I spoke to him earlier this year about how difficult it has been to access Community Care (which…
Community Foundation awards grant to Big Brothers Big Sisters
The Community Foundation of SLO County awarded a grant of $4,350 from its Community Needs grant program to Big Brothers Big Sisters of SLO County in support of the agency’s school-based youth mentoring program. This afterschool program pairs up elementary school students with student mentors for weekly, supervised activities. High school and college students are…
Naked imagination repels tyrants
I feel like I’ve been hyperventilating since November 2016. Haven’t we all? But today, I stopped by the Achievement House mail center on Higuera, where my son supervises adults with cognitive disabilities. When one of the clients greeted me, he said that he really liked Joe because Joe reminds him to “take a breath” when…
Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre holds auditions for ‘The Sunshine Boys’
Auditions for Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre’s upcoming production of Neil Simon’s The Sunshine Boys take place Sunday, Jan. 6, and Monday, Jan. 7, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. both nights. Auditions include cold reads from the script. There is no fee to audition. The plot of The Sunshine Boys follows a young theatrical…
What’s your status?
I wonder what 2018 would have been like if Donald Trump wasn’t our president. There probably wouldn’t have been so many protests in downtown SLO or on Cal Poly’s campus. Race and gender issues may not have gotten the attention they deserved. The local environmental community probably wouldn’t have pulled together to “fight” against imagined…
Art Center Morro Bay hosts sea glass jewelry workshop
Art Center Morro Bay hosts one of its Sea Glass Heart Jewelry classes on Sunday, Jan. 6, from 1 to 3 p.m. Participants will learn how to harden wire to strengthen and flatten it. The instructor will then demonstrate how to drill holes in sea glass. The workshop concludes with guests completing a set of…
Sound off
New Times readers took to Facebook to share their reactions to our Dec. 20 cover story, “Resurrection! A new partnership saves the Fremont Theater from obsolescence.”
Film Listings, 12/27/2018 – 1/3/2019
Editor’s note: Dec. 27 listings for the Sunset Drive-in and The Palm Theater were unavailable at press time. Listings published for The Palm reflect what was current on its website. Call the theaters for shows and times. AQUAMAN What’s it rated? PG-13 Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Park, Stadium 10 James Wan (Saw, The…
Common Ground 2019 at Studios on the Park brings artists together to reflect and heal
The space between The Common Ground 2019 art exhibit will be on display at Studios on the Park through Jan. 27. The gallery is open Monday through Wednesday from noon to 4 p.m., Thursday and Sunday from noon to 6 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from noon to 9 p.m. Visit studiosonthepark.org for more information.…
Paso Robles won’t purchase former state prison property
Following intensive negotiations with the state, Paso Robles officials have decided against purchasing the 137 acres that houses the now-shuttered Estrella Juvenile Correctional Facility—property that the city long held hopes for acquiring and leasing to homeless service providers and other organizations. The surplus property on Airport Boulevard was made available to Paso Robles by the…
Local author and illustrator strive to teach children about tolerance with ‘Different Is The Same’
Read on Different Is The Same, with words by Michael Kincade and illustrations by Steve Kalar, is available on Amazon in paperback for $14.96. Michael Kincade, the San Luis Obispo County poet behind Positively American, knows a thing or two about the national culture and values. Which is why after the 2016 presidential election, he…
