Drive to work drunk, resign, and receive a $40,000 payout? Sounds like a party! Woohoo! Pass that box of chardonnay!
Former Paso Robles High School Principal Megan Fletcher was arrested for a suspected DUI last Nov. 10, and—pop quiz!—is it still “suspected”? Give yourself a gold star if you answered “no.”
The cops believe it’s so, but it’s still just alleged! She ain’t guilty until proven so in a court of law, capiche!
It turns out her alleged breath alcohol concentration (BrAC) was more than three times the legal limit! Well homework-eating dog! I know dealing with high school students might drive a person to drink, but she was shit-faced at 8 a.m. Coworkers called the police, and according to the Paso Robles Police Department report, Fletcher reeked of alcohol, had slurred speech, and was tired and wobbly.
Hey, you never know what’s going on in someone’s personal life that might lead to bad decisions, but Fletcher worked with children, which requires an added layer of care and the utmost responsibility. She told police her last drink was the previous night, but her BrAC measured .255 percent at its high point. Even hours later it was still .11 percent, over the legal limit of .08 percent.
Are you sure you didn’t imbibe the proverbial “hair of the dog” before work? You know, just to “steady” yourself? The smart thing to do would have been to call in sick. Take a mental health day! Keep your job, sober up, and go to work tomorrow. The roughest thing is the police report noted that staff believed Fletcher had come to work impaired “over the past several days.”
A week after her arrest while on administrative leave, the Paso Robles Unified School District board of trustees accepted her letter of resignation, and the agreement included a $40,000 payout. I hear she was making something like $140,000 a year, so that’s less than 30 percent of her annual salary, and the agreement also allowed her to keep her health insurance through June. May I recommend some inpatient alcohol treatment? I hear Cliffside Malibu is nice.
Despite my sympathy for whatever may be her personal plight, the bottom line is the lady was driving onto campus schmammered. Thankfully, no one was physically injured, but what if she hit a student? Would you want your kids to see their principal visibly impaired at 9 in the morning? Not a great example, amirite? Whatever the outcome, I hope she gets the help she needs. Alcoholism is a disease, and treating it can be a tall order.
Speaking of tall and disordered, a Grover Beach citizen’s group is working to place a measure on the November ballot to limit building heights in the city. The currently unnamed group (Stand Small? Just spitballing!) wants to limit heights to 33 feet and establish a minimum 33 percent commercial component in mixed-use developments “born out of the outcry of people far and wide objecting to the sudden appearance and future plans for buildings as high as 66 feet,” according to the group’s press release.
Sixty-six feet, eh? I have to admit, a six-story building in quaint Grover Beach does seem a tad out of character. The group wants buildings in commercially zoned areas not to exceed 40 feet and buildings in industrial areas not to exceed 33.
According to the group’s press release, “During the pandemic, the city increased heights to as much as 66 feet. The citizen ballot measure is the culmination of the shock and dismay felt by many locals when they saw two very tall buildings going up at 4th and Grand, with plans for 10 more, most of which are being built by Coastal Community Builders, the firm that has been subject to multiple lawsuits by unhappy purchasers in the San Luis Obispo Avila Ranch development.”
The thing is, some Grover Beach residents like the idea of dense, mixed-use housing. It’s the future, baby! But it’s not the future everyone wants.
Group member and resident Kelvin Coveduck ominously lamented, “It’s too late for Front Street but it won’t be too late for Grover Beach.”
Former mayor, resigned City Council member, dismissed Air Pollution Control District board member, and perpetually controversial political activist Debbie Peterson also belongs to the group. For regular readers of the column, Peterson should sound familiar. Historically, she’s been extra shreddable! Imma get some popcorn and see how this plays out.
Another impending battle royale is setting up between Vanessa Rozo, who’s running for county clerk-recorder, and current Clerk-Recorder Elaina Cano. Rozo had requested to be a poll worker for the Proposition 50 special election, but Cano’s office denied the request based on an internal policy, which she has the authority to establish, to ensure fairness and transparency.
Not so fast, retorted Rozo, who argued Cano’s “internal policies … disenfranchised my ability to serve as a poll worker.” She said she observed polls on election day anyway and noticed irregularities, including a ballot that dropped to the floor and a worker “eating Cheetos while hand counting ballots.”
Cheetos!
Cano said the number of signatures and ballots matched, so the count was accurate. Did Rozo actually observe? Cano “would have no idea since that is open to anyone and the poll workers don’t necessarily ask what their names are,” she said.
Mm! Imma need a bucket with extra salt and butter. ∆
The Shredder pounds gear oil like its water. Caution it at shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Health & Wellness 2026.
Liberals demand more affordable housing, and their obedient Democratic lapdogs in the legislature have accommodated them with legal mandates on the cities to create a LOT more affordable units. The beach cities are already pretty built out, and high rises are the only way to jam in more affordable units. The state still demands a lot more affordable units, so you better get used to high rises.
These nice enough seeming Grover folks who want to push this initiative should “run, run like the wind” from Peterson to be taken seriously. All he needs to do is search for all she has done…none of it is good. I’m gonna follow the advice of the shredder and pop some Orville Redenbacher (I’ll even splurge for butter flavor) in the microwave and watch her cause this effort to swirl the drain if you know what I mean.
I love you, Shredder, and I enjoy your column *every* Thursday morning with my coffee. That said (and I say this as a private citizen and county resident, not the Clerk-Recorder employee that I am):
I hope you and your readers bear in mind that while politics-as-entertainment is a very relatable perspective — I get it, I do! — it is *such* an uphill battle fighting misinfo and disinformation in the elections space. When you highlight the CR campaign, I hope you will encourage readers to seek facts and look beyond political talking points. As with any election, I don’t care how anyone votes, only *that* everyone votes — but I hope people are truly informed instead of inflamed.
“Many of these attacks were launched at purely civilian targets, the most notorious of which was on June 23, 2024. On that day, at least four US-made ATACMS missiles were shot down by Russian air and missile defenses above Sevastopol, Crimea. The banned cluster submunitions (primarily used against infantry) of at least one missile exploded above the crowded beaches at Uchkuyevka and Lyubimovka on the northern outskirts of Sevastopol.
The attack, nearly coinciding with the anniversary of the Nazi invasion of Russia, killed four civilians and injured over 150 others. At the time of this act of terrorism, US/NATO ISR (intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance) assets were present above the Black Sea, prompting Moscow’s direct response.”
Psychos in the Pentagon
Oh those election deniers like Vanessa Rozo and Gaea Powell that want to be our Clerk/Recorder. Ms Rozo was a voter observer and a paralegal, and Powell the alleged voter fraudster. What great choices, Not.
Those two candidates, along with the election deniers and “observers,” and BOS map makers like Richard Patten, of the Patten Map, along with a really cringy local attorney in his stiff attorney’s suits and clipboard, lurking like some condescending turkey vulture, in the SLO County Elections Offices, as the Elections personnel professionally and accurately counted the votes in the elections that they lurked over.
They all say they are soooo experienced and share the hallucinations they had as elections “observers” even though nothing they observed was real…
Thank You Shredder!