Cover Story
Veterans fight for full equity
There are fights, and then there are fights. During World War II, Filipino soldiers fought alongside their U.S. counterparts against Japanese invaders, sharing the same fears, fights, and fates as part of a guerrilla resistance. They were on the front lines of the battle of Corregidor, they fought at Bataan, and they walked in…
Publishing mogul fails to seal records from public
George Hearst, Jr., chairman of Hearst Corp. and grandson of newspaper icon William Randolph Hearst, failed in a recent bid to seal from public view court documents related to his quest to become conservator of the estate of his twin sister Phoebe Hearst Cooke. Attorneys for Hearst argued on March 26 for a motion to…
In it to win it!
We’ve got a battle royale heating up in downtown SLO, and live music lovers are going to be the winner. When Mother’s Tavern opened in 1994, one of the things it promised was to add more live music to a flagging downtown music scene that had suffered the loss of D.K.’s West Indies Bar a…
A little skater with limitless talent
Arroyo Grande resident and 8-year-old Monument Board Shop team skater Elijah Muguira plans on shredding a lot in the coming months at the Monster Skate Park series. Muguira has ollied over full cups of coffee and water bottles, and is known as one of the youngest, most successful skateboarders around. He is also a man of few…
What should General Motors do to receive more bailout money?
Margie McClain teacher “Come up with a good plan and answer how they are going to pay back the money and how it is going to help America.” Kevin Sargeant retired “They should get customers on their own instead of receiving bailout money. We’re giving out too much money.” Kori Mickle student “Organize and plan…
Opera lite
Who is the greater criminal: he who robs a bank or he who founds one,” demands The Threepenny Opera, created by German composer Kurt Weill and playwright Bertolt Brecht. The performance debuted in Berlin in 1928, but the question is one that resonates as much with contemporary audiences as theatergoers of decades past. Weill would…
The rabbits are us
When Jamie Dietze paints a bunny—long-eared and puce, gray, or pink with petal-shaped toes that suggest razor claws—viewers sometimes mistakenly believe that she dislikes rabbits or uses her art to protest cruelty against them. In reality, the painter uses them as a metaphor with which to explore and purge her psyche, a fluffy vessel for…
A modern-day lemonade stand
What began as a fifth-grader’s “Community Action Project” assigned by her teacher has become a full-fledged community enterprise in San Luis Obispo. Ten-year-old Emily Flachman has her own business cards, tax ID number, business license, and even an attorney for her soon-to-be nonprofit organization she aptly named Kids 4 Kures. “I can sign checks too!”…
Bear hunting plan draws fire
As state officials prepare to make a decision this month on whether to allow hunting of SLO County’s black bears, criticism of the science behind the proposal is mounting. Although no local meetings on the issue are scheduled, comments from SLO County residents will be accepted before the California Fish and Game Commission considers the…
Homeward bound
With the simple stroke of a pen in Washington, D.C. last month, the lives of Avila resident Delvis Fernandez and his family changed for the better. A $410 billion spending bill signed by President Obama on March 11 eases travel restrictions imposed by former President George W. Bush on Fernandez and other Cuban Americans who…
Corrections
The acronym EMDR in the March 26 article “Eye see you” stands for Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.
Victory for Huasna residents?
Residents of Huasna Valley, east of Arroyo Grande, are celebrating an apparent victory over the oil company Excelaron after the company withdrew an application to drill for oil in the Huasna hills. Just one day before the company was scheduled to go before the Planning Commission, officials filed a request to withdraw their project from…
Woman locked granddaughter in closet, police say
An Atascadero grandmother is being held on charges that she physically assaulted and locked her granddaughter in a closet for days at a time. Tammi Underwood, 42, is being held on $100,000 bail in Oregon, where she fled in the course of a police investigation, according to a news release from Atascadero police. Underwood is…
Shoals may challenge Katcho
Grover Beach Mayor John Shoals’ hat isn’t quite in the ring as a candidate for California Assembly, but it’s teetering on the edge. “I want to explore if this is a seat that is winnable by a Democrat,” Shoals said, adding he would probably make a final decision in the coming weeks. The District 33…
Solar project getting cloudy
PG&E is pulling back on its contract with solar-energy producer Ausra, but no one will say why or what it means for the first of three proposed solar projects in the Carrizo Plain. The energy utility contracted with Ausra as part of a state mandate to amp up the renewable portion of its energy to…
Sheriff’s office releases tape of 911 call
The SLO County Sheriff’s Department played audio and video tapes resulting from a Jan. 19 call to 911 from Sheriff Patrick Hedges’ wife Sandy Oneal-Hedges for members of the media on March 26. The recordings added details but little additional information regarding the incident. In the 911 call, Oneal-Hedges is heard to say: “I have…
Saucelito Canyon 2007 Zinfandel Backroads San Luis Obispo County
Rich and bold with black fruit aromas and flavors, this complex wine has wonderful notes of tangy plums, dark chocolate, minerals, and spice. It’s nicely balanced by sweet blackberries notes, which linger long on the finish. It’s aged in 15 percent new American oak, which adds a touch of vanilla. It’s fabulous alone and a…
Tangent 2007 Sauvignon Blanc Paragon Vineyard
This full-bodied, friendly white offers charming citrus notes that meld with subtle flavors of pineapple and melon. It drinks quite deliciously on its own, but this variety is best at the table where it’s versatile with an array of fine foods. Winemaker Christian Roguenant said, “This wine pairs well with most seafood, most specifically with…
A convergence in Arroyo Grande
The first person who turned me on to Gather, the hot new wine bar in downtown Arroyo Grande, was New Times’ Calendar Editor Christy Heron. Whenever my friends at New Times get excited about a new eatery, bar and lounge, or tasting room, they always call or e-mail me with the news. But I had…
Thanks for the memories
Thank you for the wonderful article on the Cal Poly Shakespeare Press Museum (“Adventures in negative space,” March 19). As my wife and I prepare to celebrate our 20-year wedding anniversary next month, your article brought back many fond memories. Two decades ago, my then-fiancée, who was a graphics major, and I, a history major,…
Dune drivers don’t pollute
Witnessing OHV debates across the West led me to think I’d heard it all but I was stunned by Lucia Casalinuovo’s depraved lack of sympathy in respect to China’s brutal subjugation of Tibet (“Clear the beach,” March 26) because she is angry about an OHV park and a nesting area, which is protected in season. …
Grover Beach council rides a bumpy road
The City of Grover Beach is holding the contractor liable for doing a poor paving job on North 4th Street from about Atlantic City Avenue north to Pismo Beach. A wheelbarrel and a rake could have done a better job. It still concerns me that the city’s residential street funds were used on this major…
Appreciate what soldiers sacrifice
I am glad to know there are people who are really interested in supporting soldiers, veterans, and veterans’ families. Since the Democrats gained control of Congress, several benefits have been restored to help that population recover from the challenges of war. There is support for soldiers’ physical and mental health, there are college scholarships, and…
Just say no
The statistics will make you sick: 7,000 killed (many beheaded) in Mexico last year by the drug lords. Huge percentages of the inmates in our prisons right now are there because of drugs and drug-related crimes. Those prisoners are sucking up billions of our tax dollars and resources. Mothers lose their children, families are destroyed,…
Beware of the bomb
Colin Rigley is mistaken in his statement (“Eye see you,” March 26) that the R in EMDR relates to “Repositioning.” The acronym stands for “Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing.” He stated that the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs recognized EMDR “only in recent years.” This is also not true: They’ve placed EMDR in the highest…
Rep. McCarthy doubletalks
Recent news stories reveal that Congressman Kevin McCarthy objects so strongly to President Obama’s economic plan that he has declined all earmark spending in the upcoming budget, proudly securing ‘zip zilch nada” in funding for California’s 22nd Congressional District. He did so, he says, “on purpose.” This news got me wondering whether McCarthy showed the…
Hats off to Paso activists
I commend John Borst and the Concerned Citizens of Paso Robles for their continuing effort to have their voices heard by their city council. The Tribune, without any factual local information, bandied about scare tactics of “drought prone California and water rationing.” While Paso Robles could use another water source, as the continued over-development and…
Sentences should be just
What kind of a justice system has laws that could send a man to jail from five to 100 years for selling marijuana to sick people (Charles Lynch) but send a man to jail for only five years who pleads no contest to vehicular manslaughter while intoxicated and to felony hit-and-run (see The Tribune, CentralCoastRoundup,…
Discard unused drugs responsibly
I’ve spent an hour researching what to do with expired and unused prescription drugs. I recently moved here and have a few bottles of such drugs from my family and animals but have concerns about these substances ending up in creeks, the ocean, drinking water, and landfills. In the Bay Area, police departments will take drugs for…
What comes around
You’ve got to appreciate the rich irony of the way a man who inherited his billions from a harvest fertilized by press freedoms had seemingly no qualms about trying to stomp press and public access when the public interest at stake regards his own affairs. A team of lawyers for George Hearst, Jr., with their…
Alison Cone
New Times: There are rumors that local residents raised money the money to buyout Cal Poly’s men’s basketball head coach Kevin Bromley from his contract. Is this true? Cone: I have not heard that. We used non-state funding: a combination of ticket sales revenue, NCAA money, and donations to buyout Bromley’s contract. New Times: Bromley…
Voice your vote
The most recent general election had the greatest voter participation since November 1972. We have the power to continue this upward trend. President Barack Obama’s community-based campaign style contributed, in no small measure, to this increased voting. Why? Because people felt connected to the outcome, they were inspired to action. So what happens if…
