San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Michael Frye threw the book at former Cardinal Barbershop owner Nathan Abate. Almost nine years for sexual assault—that’s nothing compared to the lifetime of trauma his victims need to slog through—but it’s the max.
The max! Finally. A serial sexual assaulter gets what’s coming to him, although his wife seems to think he deserves forgiveness.
He deserves to have his behavior corrected with punishment. He’s a real fucker.
Just like Stanford swimmer Brock Allen Turner, who was found guilty of sexually assaulting an unconscious woman and spent three months in jail. Or Christopher Belter, who pleaded guilty to raping and sexually assaulting four teenage girls and was sentenced to probation.
Did the justice system finally grow a conscience?
Brandi Abate begged Frye for leniency for the father of her child. She said that he made “past life mistakes we all made.” Um, no, Brandi, we didn’t all “mistakenly” sexually assault young women after ensuring they were too intoxicated to make decisions.
She also complained that people were harassing her on social media: “It’s alienating,” she said during the sentencing hearing on Nov. 12. I bet it is. Nothing like being met by the consequences of your choices, amirite?
Brandi also posted a cease-and-desist notification in the Everything Atascadero Facebook page, accusing one of Nate’s alleged victims (her case wasn’t prosecuted) and others of harassing her. This came after she posted a GoFundMe request in the very same group, which people, of course, pounced on with vigor.
Social media is not a safe space, duh.
People harass others for showing their feet in TikTok videos. Why would a request for funds to help the family of convicted sexual assaulter be treated any differently? If you want my advice, which I’m sure you don’t, but here it is anyway: Get off Facebook.
Social media was actually created for harassment! I think it says that in the social contract. Because everyone sucks!
But mostly Nate, Nathan Abate. He’s the worst.
Paso Robles Joint Unified School District board member Kenney Enney also sucks, but methinks the district’s turning over a new leaf!
The school board actually passed an inclusivity program to tackle its issues with race and bullying, something that Enney actually voted in favor of after saying it wouldn’t work.
“It doesn’t mean I don’t think there’s not a problem in this community or in this school district—there is,” Enney said. “I just don’t think this is the solution, and I’m sure I’m going to get labeled as a white supremacist.”
But why would anyone say that about you? Well. After listening to parents (and a fellow board member) say that their elementary school children had been called the N-word on campus in October, at the November meeting where the board passed the inclusivity program, Enney wondered which students were using the N-word the most.
“They’re mostly going to be immigrants; they’re not from here,” he said. “It is a new group to the community that probably has not, in my opinion, been educated on what is proper and improper.”
Oh really?
The N-word is a pretty American thing to say. In fact, in my opinion (And it’s a college-educated one, shudder!), it’s a uniquely American word, a product of American culture. It is not some commonly used slang in other countries. Immigrants would actually have to learn that word from Americans, first, before using it.
I guess Enney is blaming immigrants for our problems because it’s easier than admitting that he might be the problem. Sucky, suck, sucks.
The answer is correcting behavior, he said, not changing minds.
Take it from the mansplainer! But actually, the program does punish students who get too slur-happy with things like potential suspension.
Should Linda George have been punished while speaking during the Paso Robles City Council‘s pickleball hearing for bringing up the word “pickleball” repeatedly while she ranted about City Manager Ty Lewis?
She used the hearing as an opportunity to contribute her 50 cents and her feelings, even though they weren’t really relevant to the pickleball courts that were being discussed.
“He’s still harassing people he says are harassing him on social media,” she said. “So, something needs to change.”
There’s that social media harassment again. Get off social media, people!
At least other people’s harassment is good for a laugh every once in a while. Public meetings can also good for a laugh. A recent Arroyo Grande Planning Commission meeting about a hotel and car wash proposed for an empty lot next to Highway 101 got me going!
I’m a weirdo, I know, but Shredder’s gotta shred, amirite?
Noise came up. The vacuums are loud. The car wash itself is loud. Oof, the decibels!
Bob Diaz, who owns another car wash in the Five Cities area, got up and spoke about how he knows from experience: The blow dryers are “extremely loud for a long distance.” And that mixed with all the car washes that are already in the area means that the Five Cities area doesn’t need a new one.
Really?! The car wash owner doesn’t want another car wash in the area. No shit.
“If you approve this one project,” another resident said. “It will be 10.”
What’s more American than choices? Δ
The Shredder is American first but was made in China. Send comments to shredder@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Nov 28 – Dec 8, 2024.