Cover Story
Off the road
There is almost no historical record of Jack Kerouac’s stay in San Luis Obispo. The San Luis Obispo Historical Society has no photos of him or his neighborhood haunts. And there certainly is no plaque in front of his former home to say “this is where Jack Kerouac slept.” It’s as if he didn’t exist…
How do you feel about prosecuting CIA personnel for torture?
Martin Vasquez retail “If they’re torturing people for no reason, then obviously they should be prosecuted because it is illegal.” Dennis Young photographer “Yes and no, we have to be careful about who it is. If we’re talking about the guys in the field that wound up having to implement what Bush and his cronies…
The Beat goes on
Song for song, I don’t think you can find a better party band than The English Beat. “Mirror in the Bathroom,” “Can’t Get Used To Losing You,” “Tears of a Clown,” “Best Friends,” “Hands Off She’s Mine,” “All Out To Get You,” “Too Nice To Talk To,” “Save It For Later,” “Jeanette,” “I Confess,” “Ackee…
50 years of art
New Times Tell me about how the San Luis Obispo Art Center started and why. Karen Kile, Executive Director of SLO Art Center In the 1940s there were about 30 to 40 people who were taking art workshops from teachers and that nucleus (of interested people and business people) stayed active and in the ’60s,…
Los Angeles, he’s ours
Merriam-Webster defines a soloist, simply and not unexpectedly, as one who performs a solo and a conductor as the leader of a musical ensemble. Not to be confused with the composer, a person who writes music. For Michael Nowak, Music Director for the San Luis Obispo Symphony for the past 25 years, these terms are…
Rhinocerotidae take the stage-ae
For a building situated somewhat sleepily on the outskirts of San Luis Obispo, the Interact Theatre is a space that has lived. In fact, the venue manages to reside at the periphery of Cuesta College, an institution that shares a lonely stretch of Highway 1 with the California Men’s Colony, Camp San Luis, and Woods…
Citizen’s Alert 04.30.09
Monday, May 4 Grover Beach City Council public meets in the City Hall Council Chambers, Grover Beach City Hall, 154 S. Eighth St. at 6:30 p.m. Info: 489-9657. Morro Bay Planning Commission meets at 6 p.m. in the Morro Bay Veterans Hall, 209 Surf St. Info: 772-6200. Watch it live on Morro Bay Charter channel…
Solar secrecy
Sometimes public information is not in the public’s best interest. This, at least, is according to Ausra, Inc., one of three companies that want to build solar energy farms in the Carrizo Plains. As a state commission begins studying whether the planned solar plants would harm local species, Ausra is asking permission to handle much…
Wastewater to wine?
Local vineyards pinched by drought and dwindling groundwater may get the opportunity, if they want it, to irrigate with water recycled from wastewater treatment plants. The idea has bubbled up in a proposal for a new countywide water management plan, now being prepared by Carollo Engineers under a $685,000 contract approved by the San Luis…
Lights, camera, Atascadero
Atascadero’s government meetings will stay on the air despite a city budget crisis. On April 28, city council members voted unanimously to continue broadcasting city meetings on TV and the Internet. City staff proposed to cut online streams and archives of the City Council’s bi-monthly meeting in addition to stopping all video recording of Planning…
Not-so special election
On May 19, California voters will finalize the state’s hemorrhaging budget. The latest local voter registration numbers, however, don’t indicate much enthusiasm. State legislators crafted the special election, as it’s been dubbed, in order to try to pass a list of new measures supporters say are needed to patch the budget deficit. On the ballot…
Selling to minors comes with its own sentencing requirement.
The hearing was emotionally charged, as Owen Beck, a former patient who lost a leg to cancer, testified along with his father. Beck was one of the minors in question. Another former patient, Elaine McKellips, testified that a man who raped her—and caused the injuries she was treating with marijuana—will serve less time than Lynch,…
Approaching ‘gates of hell’ and turning back
Charles Lynch appeared for sentencing April 23, only to have his fate postponed. Again. In an interview, the former medical marijuana dispensary owner said he thinks it’s the fifth or sixth time he’s shown up and had sentencing delayed. Nonetheless, Lynch’s supporters see the delay as a good sign. And despite the last-minute notice of…
Gabbers vs. Gibson
Woe be to any politician who tries to tell Los Osans there’s a limit to how much they can talk about their would-be sewer. So Supervisor Bruce Gibson, the newish board chairman, learned after he decided to limit public comment on the Los Osos sewer project. (To a total 10 minutes in the morning and…
Temporary ban on new Morro Bay marijuana dispensaries
With the future of California’s for-profit medical marijuana dispensaries still up in the air, the Morro Bay City Council is taking no chances on the exact interpretation of the Obama administration’s hands-off policy. After the city received some inquiries about its policies on the dispensaries, City Attorney Rob Schultz recommended that the City Council ban…
A toast to the underdogs
Debby Sweet and Cheri Lucas, the founders of Short ’n’ Sweet Dog Rescue and Second Chance at Love Humane Society, respectively, in Templeton are devoted to the outcasts of the animal world. Helping the traumatized, injured, helpless, and sometimes scary strays from the streets and the pounds’ “green mile,” their noble cause takes a lot…
Stimulate more good jobs
It seems that in California’s current/annual budget debacle, it’s one public employee union against another. “Guns or butter” we are asked, each side having valid points. What we really need is a healthy private sector that can provide a robust tax return to an inclusive and functioning government and at the same time provide the…
Praise for Nipomo Native Garden
I am a world traveler who has been traveling up the beautiful California coastline experiencing the wonders that nature has to offer during this time of year. I recently had the great pleasure to witness the Nipomo Native Garden and absorb all the efforts the locals have undergone to preserve the native plants and trees…
Sometimes, euthanasia is the only choice
The Pacific Wildlife Care Rehabilitation Center in Morro Bay takes in seabirds covered in oil, birds and mammals hit by automobiles, seabirds entangled by fishing line and pierced by fishing hooks, hawks caught in barbed wire fences or maimed by gunshots, songbirds caught by cats, eagles, and turkey vultures poisoned by bullet-laced rodents, mammal babies…
Don’t stop with bears
Yaaa! We did it! We stopped bear hunting in our county, at least for now. People power: We can do it! We can still bring any of our government systems to make the changes we want in a nonviolent manner. Now let’s see if we can stand up and scream out, “Prosecute all those who…
Readers responded
Thanks for the good coverage on the outcome of the proposed black-bear hunt in SLO (“Bears win a reprieve from hunting,” April 23). Jeff Kuyper of Los Padres ForestWatch e-mailed me a copy of your article. Your paper must have a good readership, as other friends in your area have emailed me in response to…
Pole dancing debases yoga
So Yoga Centre owner Amy Swanson is “on a mission to change people’s perception of yoga,” according to the article “Move your body” (April 16). Does pole-dancing—essentially, vertical lap-dancing tricks and techniques used by strippers—really form a positive perception of yoga and make it accessible to everyone? Or does strippercising perpetuate the culture of pornography…
Check out Deuteronomy
Thank you for painting such a clear picture of the simple beauty of gay marriage in SLO County (“Waiting for equality,” April 23). I hope, for my sake and the sake of my husband Mark, that the California Supreme Court does the right thing and upholds the legality of our marriage and the marriages of…
The spirit versus the letter
Regarding the letter “Opponents of gay marriage defy logic” (April 16), separation of church and state law was put into place to protect self-supporting churches and public donations to prevent them from being unfairly taxed. Later expanded to protect charitable contributions to nonprofit organizations, today it’s being bent toward an atheist movement to interpret it…
Vector control vote déjà vu
On May 13, 2009 (6-9 p.m. at the County Ag Auditorium, Sierra Way and Bishop in SLO, in back of the health department), let’s tell County Environmental Health, again, like we did in November 2004, that we do not want property taxes raised to create a $1.1-million-a-year vector control district—to spray pesticides “to control mosquitoes…
Support the Dalai Lama
Thank you for giving attention to a worthwhile issue, that of bringing support and solidarity to the Dalai Lama in his efforts to regain sovereignty for Tibet. With the long-suffering path that nation has been on, it is shameful that we have turned our backs on them. What good has it done to pledge allegiance to…
Permit poopers
It’s hard to get a proper party going in this area, with all the Facebook-trolling cops and party-pooping snitches. I say this because Slotopia, that would-be May 2nd beach party, is supposedly cancelled, after the authorities leaned on organizer Ryan Dean Magill. It’s cancelled, which is weird, since it only existed as a concept anyway.…
Raymond Hanson
New Times: What are the best-selling comic books these days? Hanson: Some of the most popular ones are getting out of the mainstream. Comics like Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer are real popular because the TV series can be continued in comic book form. Of the mainstream comics, the best sellers are still the…
The Memory
Editor’s note: The magic of the journey transcending the arrival, the adventure of the process more than the goal, inspired Kerouac and drives such fellow travelers as Seamas Navarro, a poet who lives the Beat tradition in verse as well as transit. The freedom and uncertainty of the nomadic life, in which everywhere and nowhere…
Domaine Chandon Non-vintage Brut Classic California
I love bubbly. It’s the perfect aperitif for a dinner party, but it’s not easy to find well-made sparklers at discount prices. That’s why I’m recommending this impressive version available at Trader Joe’s, Costco, BevMo!, and most grocery stores. It ranges from $12.99 to $14.99, and you can usually get a store to match another…
Tangent 2007 Eccelstone Central Coast
This delicious blend of Pinot Gris, Viognier, Riesling, Pinot Blanc, Albarino, Muscat Canelli, and Orange Muscat impresses with its perfectly balanced fruit, citrus, floral, and spice notes. The ideal foil for spicy dishes, this will harmoniously complement most savory Asian dishes, curries, shellfish, fruit, and chicken salads, or chicken-apple sausage with white beans. It’s $20…
No diner is this Club Car
Several visits to the new Club Car on Osos Street in San Luis Obispo confirmed this restaurant offers a very good meal at a fair price. Experience those attributes merely once in its comfortable ambiance and you just might want to make this club your home away from home. I haven’t been a regular during…
