Cover Story
The oddysee, exoddus, and wrath of Oddworld Inhabitants
A few weeks ago—no one really seems to know why—the double doors of Oddworld Inhabitants’ former San Luis Obispo office were cinched together with zip ties. It was a strange homage to a video game company that built its reputation on Abe, a gawky, misshapen alien with a nasal voice and his lips sewn shut…
Sexual harassment and retaliation alleged against Arroyo Grande Police Department
A female Arroyo Grande police officer filed a civil lawsuit against the police department and its chief, alleging a culture of sexual discrimination and retaliation against herself and two other female officers. Kimberly Martin—a 14-year veteran of the Arroyo Grande Police Department and the 2002 officer of year—made a number of allegations in a complaint…
Check out those pipes!
It’s not every day you get to hear the Performing Arts Center’s majestic Forbes Pipe Organ played by a master of the craft. Last September saw a visit by virtuoso organist Cameron Carpenter, who wowed audiences with his glittering showmanship, nimble limbs, and eclectic selections ranging between Kate Bush and a musical interpretation of Goethe’s…
Pity the living
I worked on an Alaskan crab boat in the Bering Sea for a couple of years during the late ’90s, which is why I spent the first couple years of the new century an unflattering shade of blue. To say that it was cold would be like calling a heart attack a slight pain. We…
Cougars & Mustangs
Christmas has, throughout the years, become synonymous with giving, goodwill, and peace on Earth. But what about the day after Christmas? What happens to the millions of miles of wrapping paper? The refuse created from the holiday abandon in which we all love to glory? Cal Poly faculty and students involved in the Global Waste…
Merry Christmas!
Get into the holiday spirit during the fourth annual Arroyo Grande Rotary Club Community Christmas and Holiday Sing-Along, which takes place at the Clark Center on Sunday, Dec. 18, at 4 p.m. “Attendees will be able to hear great area performing groups and join their family and friends in singing all their favorite Christmas and…
I triple dog dare you!
“I want an official Red Ryder carbine-action, 200-shot Range Model air rifle with a compass and this thing which tells time built right in to the stock!” I have heard this line about one million times in the last few weeks, and it’s not because I’ve been watching an A Christmas Story marathon. It’s because…
Clubs
Goin’ South … BRANCH ST. DELI: 203 E. Branch St., Arroyo Grande, 489-9099. Live music Fri. from 5:30-8:30 p.m. THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Road, 773-5000 or cliffsresort.com. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Road in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the Pismo…
How many clowns can you fit in your car?
Bethany Campos professional student “Zero. … I have the invisible Batmobile.” Isabel Warner professional student “As many as I can fit in my car, ‘Frank Sonata.’” Don Nelson landscape architect “Three. It’s a Porsche. Any more than three, and I get a riot.” David Bodney paralegal “Fourteen, plus two in the glove compartment.”
It’s a doll’s life
To children, Christmas more or less means toys. So it’s fitting that Ballet Theatre SLO’s winter production, La Boutique Fantasque (the Magic Toyshop), should feature playthings as protagonists. La Boutique is a funny little ballet, not more than an hour long. The setting never strays from the glittering, wondrous shop where toys come to life…
A new hope
So I was at my friends’ house, and their young daughter was playing with a toy that consisted of simple metal locks mounted on a wooden board. She spent quite a while—especially for a toddler—manipulating the various chains and fasteners to open doors that revealed images of cheerful farm animals. Having successfully figured out how…
Conning the world
The life trajectories of artists Lee Harvey Roswell and Edward Walton Wilcox are, at first glance anyway, nothing alike. Wilcox was raised in the tropical climes of West Palm Beach, Fla. Roswell says he’s from the town of Freefall, New York, a place Google maps reveals to be rather existentially challenged. That is to say,…
The magic of mushrooms
Have you been a victim of mushroom price inflation? Do you want to be able to identify friendly mushrooms from foe? Or maybe you just want to enjoy a nice walk through the Cambria forest? If the answer is “yes” to any of the questions above, get yourself to the next Annual Mushroom Walk, which…
Wine by Joe 2009 Pinot Noir
Winemaker Joe Dobbes makes this delicious wine in the Willamette Valley, Ore., where he makes several different brands. He describes this value-priced wine as “genuine with no pretenses.” Indeed, it’s easy drinking and very enjoyable, especially at this low price. It offers tasty aromas and flavors of tangy cherry with bright notes of blueberries, blackberries,…
Sinor LaVallee 2008 Syrah Luna Matta Paso Robles
This classic Syrah will lure you into thinking it’s from France, but this one is from Paso Robles’ Westside growing area. Winemaker Mike Sinor did a terrific job of making this nicely balanced Rhone red. Its forward black fruit flavors are weaved with minerals, earth, and spice, resulting in a fine wine layered with flavors.…
A righteous New Year!
The New Year’s Eve (NYE) parties I remember best have all taken place in Central Coast wine country where they couldn’t help but be Bacchanalian. I’ll never forget a killer NYE dinner celebration at Laetitia Vineyards when my husband Dan and I were among a group of 10 friends, and we had arranged for a…
ERIN BECKWITH
NEW TIMES What do you like about working at Sephora? BECKWITH The thing I really like other than the people I work with—we have a great team—is having a one-on-one relationship with the people who I can see have been influenced by the media’s idea of beauty. I like being face to face with…
On Newt Gingrich and history
Our second president, founding father John Adams, once said of democracy: “There was never a democracy that did not commit suicide.” With today’s Congressional approval at record lows, could Adams’ suicidal prediction apply to our republic? There is one worrisome precedent. Germany’s Weimar Republic in the 1920s was in moral crisis, its legislature (Reichstag) gridlocked…
On Obama and economic inequality
The Obama hour-long campaign address in Osawatomie, Kansas, reported: “Inequality also distorts our democracy.” He added, “It gives an outsized voice to the few who can afford high-priced lobbyists and unlimited campaign contributions and runs the risk of selling out democracy to the highest bidder.” First of all, I don’t believe the public is that…
Gingrich presents a two-party dilemma
The dilemma for Democrats and Republicans alike regarding Gingrich’s possible candidacy is the fact he threatens both. His insight appears to threaten the establishmentarianism of both parties. It is apparent Democrats’ and Republicans’ first priority is to serve each party’s “special interests” before that of the country’s. One may argue correctly that this conflict was…
Fewer than half of Californians can now be called middle class
Thirty-six point six percent of Californians fall below the cutoff. A strong middle class is what made this country so successful. How did we get a middle class? Mostly by collective bargaining, like a 40-hour workweek, living wage, child labor laws. As the middle class seeps away, we become a Third World country with a…
Think about this when looking to beautify
Two things struck me when I read the article regarding “beatifying” two downtown blocks (“SLO City Council spends big on two blocks of downtown,” Nov. 17). One, most beautiful cities around the world remove traffic from their central streets—not mature trees—and make them pedestrian walkways with a wonderful open café environment. We all enjoy the…
How about we really tax the rich?
Loved the right-wingers last week. One quotes Hayek in his attempt to characterize Obama’s tepid attempts to create a few jobs using basic Econ 101 policies as “action for action’s sake,” and a move toward a “new type of party, organized on military lines” (“Deadlocks have a purpose,” Dec. 8). Wow. One minute Obama’s a…
We’re just waiting for a convincing claim
Ken Goodman, writing about atheism in your Nov. 24 issue (“Some finer points and questions on belief”), misunderstands the ad populum fallacy and Otis Page’s use of it. Mr. Page claimed that one good reason to believe that a god exists is the great number of believers throughout history. But even if a god does…
Enough with the regulations, permits, and costs!
Here the fish-composting project (“Hook, line, and sinker,” Dec. 8) is rolling along with everyone thinking how to make it work and make it work well—and guess what? The Integrated Waste Management Authority steps in and makes its regulations known—and the plan is almost in the toilet, not because it’s not working, not because it’s…
Have a blast
Tangible gifts are so last year. This year, why not think outside of the (gift) box and buy that woman in your life something that’s more about the experience? Give her the ability to pull the trigger. Range Master of Santa Maria offers a Women’s Shoot 101 class that combines a mix of physical self-defense…
It’s the most wonderful time of the beer
Every year since I can remember—at least, after I was old enough to drink legally—I’ve received the gift of beer: Big wonderful boxes full of clinking bottles all containing beers from around the world. It’s the kind of gift that says, “Hey, you like to drink, don’t ya?” Here’s another idea: Make ’em work for…
The happy place
In every aspect of life, there’s a new frontier to reach. There are new art movements, revolutionary scientific discoveries, and technological advancements. The new frontier of medicine and healing is holistic health, which encourages exercise, a balance in an organic and herbal diet, and—most of all—spiritual and mental stability. It focuses on the importance of…
What a wreck
In October, during the mission to assess the environmental threat of the U.S.S. Montebello, Cambrians could look out at night over a blackened sea and find it lit up by a lone salvage vessel positioned some 900 feet above the sunken ship’s skeletal remains. Now the mission is over; no threat was found. On the…
Corrections
The Dec. 8 story “Waiting in the wings” incorrectly stated the reason for canceling a Cuesta drama trip for a festival performance in Utah. A choir trip to Europe was student funded and therefore required no school funds. Cuesta was incorrectly referred to as a university, and lecturers were incorrectly referred to as professors.
First you get the fiber, then you get the power
A mutual land deal between the city of San Luis Obispo and owners of the Damon-Garcia Ranch will allow SLO to lay the last segment of a fiber optic ring around the city. In a big step for the city’s communications infrastructure, the San Luis Obispo City Council on Dec. 6 unanimously accepted an easement…
Morro council bows to Cerrito property owner
Despite an outcry from the community and a standing-room-only turnout at its last meeting of the year, the Morro Bay City Council shot down four separate appeals to a controversial development on a Native American ceremonial site. On Dec. 13th, the City Council voted 4-1 to deny four appeals to prevent property owner Dan Reddell…
Watch your back, Ferris
It’s not quite a curfew, but rules aimed at stomping out truancy could soon give the local fuzz authority to crack down on games of hookie. On Dec. 13, San Luis Obispo County supervisors gave an initial nod to a proposed truancy ordinance. The final ordinance is scheduled for a public hearing on Jan. 17,…
Cambria teacher charged with rape
Walter Vickrey, an instructor at Coast Union High School in Cambria, has been charged with five felonies, including spousal rape, in relation to his Nov. 11 arrest. On Dec. 9, the District Attorney’s Office formally charged Vickrey with two counts of forcible oral copulation, one count of rape of a spouse by force, inflicting corporal…
Involuntary manslaughter case will go to trial
Henry “Hank” Duggins is scheduled to stand trial on charges of involuntary manslaughter and violating state safety standards that resulted in the 2008 deaths of Jake Gaines and Manuel Villagomez. Duggins, who was overseeing construction of a portion of the Nacimiento Water Project for Teichert Construction, faces charges that he made mistakes resulting in an…
Cuesta official placed on leave following comments to New Times
In a monthly open forum held on Dec. 9, Cuesta College’s president, Dr. Gil Stork, announced the college had placed one of its communications directors on administrative leave following comments made to New Times. A Cuesta official later confirmed that Stephan Gunsaulus, director of marketing and communications, was placed on administrative leave. Stork said he…
