Cover Story
Homework without a home
For hundreds of SLO County children, the desks where they’ll sit on the first day of school may represent the greatest stability in their young lives. From kindergartners to high-school seniors, these are the local students who manage to attend school despite being officially classified as homeless. They sleep in homeless shelters with their families,…
Lane Tanner 2006 Pinot Noir Bien Nacido Vineyard
Owner and winemaker Lane Tanner, who began making her eponymous brand in 1989, always keeps her delicious Pinots (she makes three versions) reasonably priced. Admittedly, this vineyard-designated wine is usually my favorite. It offers pretty aromas and flavors of ripe cherries, tangy boysenberries, and strawberries that marry perfectly with the nuances of earth, spice, and…
La Ferme Julien 2007 Rose Cotes du Ventoux
This tasty French pink wine is delightfully refreshing on warm summer days. A blend of three Rhone varieties, Cinsault, Grenache, and Syrah, it’s a dry blush with aromas and flavors of bright cherries, strawberries, and raspberries. It’s a tasty aperitif and a good choice for summer picnic dishes like chilled shellfish, pasta salads with chicken…
Pesto or Pistou – It’s All Delicious
While attending last year’s Basil Festival at Lone Madrone Tasting Room & Herb Farm (formerly Bonny Doon and Sycamore Herb Farm) as a judge for the pesto contest, I was impressed by the array of recipes from talented local cooks. But the most delectable pesto of them all was the result of an intriguing recipe…
It’s about time
I can’t count how many times I’ve had people call me or e-mail me asking for information about this band or that band: Who should they hire to play their wedding? How do they book a band for a party? On and on with the questions! Frankly, it’s annoying. Now I’ll be able to point…
Artifacts
Where life meets Art Local artist and gallery owner, Michael Ackerman wants you to express yourself. “The goal is to create a playground where community and artists can play together, deepening their life expression and experience, creating a cohesive community empowered by the diversity of united individuality,” Ackerman said about his latest venture, CrossRoads Jam.…
A celebration fit for a queen
New Times Tell me about the St. Anthony Celebration happening in Pismo Beach. Lori Frontella The St. Anthony’s celebration honors Queen [Saint] Elizabeth of Portugal-—the whole story of how her people were starving … and her husband, the king, who was horrible—she would hide food in her room and feed poor people. He caught her…
A heavy dose of the tonic of laughter
Anyone incapable of appreciating the absurd would do well to stay clear of PCPA’s adaptation of MoliÀre’s The Imaginary Invalid, running through Aug. 23 in Santa Maria and Sept. 7 in Solvang. From the basic plot premise—a family’s antics to prevent the hypochondriac patriarch from forcibly marrying his daughter to the son of a doctor—to…
Brother, can you spare a studio?
San Luis Obispo’s population of homeless artists may grow significantly in February, adding dozens of dancers to the ranks of this sad demographic. The cause? World Rhythm and Motion Studio, which has called the eye-catching purple structure adjacent to the Greyhound station home for nearly five years, will soon have no such residence. And if…
What would you do to improve our education system?
Dan Mathewson materials handler/shipper “Get rid of the National Education Association and the teachers unions. They don’t work, seeing as we spend billions on education and still students don’t know when the Civil War took place.” William Kratzer manager “Education should be more focused on teaching life-long skills instead of simply memorizing facts.” Andrew Farmer…
Fast facts
The Lindamood-Bell Learning Center will be celebrating International Literacy Day on Sept. 8 at 10:30 a.m. and again at 3:30 p.m. The event will include a community book drive, story readings, and a book raffle. Book donations will be accepted all week beginning Sept. 8, and all books collected will be donated to a local…
Farewell, good King; hail to thee, Gigi
The San Luis Obispo Senior Legal Services Project is under new direction after 14 years. Gigi Sawyer, a graduate of King Hall School of Law at U.C. Davis, has been hired to replace Angie King, who founded the program in 1994. Sawyer, a San Luis Obispo County native, said that she’s very excited about her…
Protect the Planning Commission, they say
People in San Luis Obispo County really like their Planning Commission. That was the sentiment Aug. 12 when the Board of Supervisors was asked to shift some regulatory powers from the commission to non-appointed planning staff, and the public turned out in force. The idea was proposed as a way to streamline planning and building…
Sheriff and ABC continue alcohol sting operations
The SLO County Board of Supervisors accepted another $55,653 grant that will go toward continuing “minor decoy” and “shoulder tap” programs aimed at reducing underage drinking in the coming year. The money from the Department of Alcohol Beverage Control will be used by the Sheriff’s Department to identify adults who buy alcohol for minors, as…
State budget puts local revenues at risk
While the state budget stretches into a months-long impasse, one of the latest proposals to close an estimated $15 billion deficit is to dip into local gas-tax and property-tax revenues. If the proposal goes through, about $16.3 million could be at risk in San Luis Obispo County. The idea is nothing new, but it comes…
Promote this
The Downtown Association won their independence from the city of San Luis Obispo earlier this year, and with it, they won the legal right to lobby, campaign, promote, and petition in favor of or against any cause they choose. Their split from the city to become a nonprofit group—which was supported by a 5-0…
SLO loses many experienced teachers
Many San Luis Obispo County schools will start this academic year without their veteran teachers. Some teachers had planned to retire, in other instances districts pushed for seasoned teachers to leave as a way to cut costs and avoid layoffs, because, very simply, new teachers are paid lower salaries. Consequently, SLO schools will have dozens…
Nothing ever stays the same…and some things never change
It has been 13 years since I walked the wide, open-air halls of Arroyo Grande High School as a student: before Nipomo High School was a blip on the radar or a $26 million dollar renovation was in the works. Today the area nestled on the corner of Fair Oaks Avenue and Valley Road, surrounded…
Genetically engineered sugar leaves a sour taste
Genetically engineered sugar will soon be entering the U.S. food supply. Sugar produced by GE sugar beets will be included in a wide range of products, from candy to breakfast cereal to bread. None of those products are required to be labeled to indicate that they contain GE ingredients. Sugar beets account for more than…
Don’t blame W.
[President George W.] Bush had the misfortune of being in office when Sept. 11 [2001] occurred. And even though his policies have kept the United States from being attacked at home, he is under constant criticism by people who don’t seem to remember that we are under attack by the Muslims. There is one group…
Why worry?
The evidence is overwhelming that the last ice age, one of many, ended in most of North America and Europe about 10,000 years ago. The last ice age did not end in what is now Canada until about 6,000 years ago. What caused this phenomenon? Global warming did. What caused the warming? My ancestors did.…
Change the tax structure
John McCain, in one of his recent campaign speeches, claimed that, by the end of his presidency, he will have won the war in Iraq, balanced the budget, and brought Osama Bin Laden to justice. All this will have been accomplished without raising taxes. First, what we’ve had in Iraq for the last 5 years…
Protect marriage; vote no on Proposition 8
Michael and I got married on Aug. 14, 2004. It was a beautiful day and we were joined by many of our loving friends and family members. At the time, however, our marriage was not legally recognized. Now, four years later, the state of California has changed its Constitution to end discrimination against same-gendered couples…
Think again
(Re: “Move forward” by Linda Seeley, Letters, Aug. 7, 2008): Linda, Linda, Linda. I’m sure your left wing, liberal heart is in the right place but, darling, you haven’t got a clue. It would not take 20 years to produce oil from offshore drilling and, if we had started drilling in Anwar when we first…
Drilling won’t help
We Americans are smarter than our government leaders give us credit for. We all know that we cannot solve the energy crisis and certainly not the climate crisis by drilling for more oil. Big Oil, their cronies in Congress, and the Bush Administration are exploiting the pain we are feeling at the pump by touting…
No Bass no Moore
Suing Demi Moore. Restraining orders against judges and deputies. Everybody but poor Lawrence [Bass] is lying (“First Demi Moore, now SLO,” Aug. 7, 2008). Now a civil rights suit against the county. Next will be a civil suit for damages. Maybe he should take some lessons from Jarek Molski on how to sue and settle…
Overturn a bad verdict
If ever a court case was in need of jury nullification, the trial of Charles Lynch was a good example (Re: “Lynch guilty on all charges,” Aug. 7, 2008). The jury could have acquitted, even if the defendant had violated a literal interpretation of the law. This concept was summarized by our second president, John…
Where was Brown?
The attorney general of the state of California should be censured for not having a representative at the Charlie Lynch federal trial, one whom might have assisted in the defense of the man who broke no state laws and did not engage in interstate [drug] trafficking (Re: “Lynch guilty on all charges,” Aug. 7, 2008).…
Tom Fowler – Fremont Theatre chief of staff
NEW TIMES: How old is the Fremont Theatre? FOWLER: It was built in 1942 and has been used as a movie theatre ever since. It’s been through some changes and upgrades, but all the art deco work is original. NEW TIMES: Do you still use film reels? FOWLER: No, the movies come on hard drives…
Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee
The election is still a couple of months out, but, with the deadlines for candidates filing closed, we already know our choices in the local city council and school board races. I’m not as excited about these races as I am about races in the Olympics—USA! USA!—but they bear at least some attention. I happened…
