Cover Story
Even ‘bad men’ love
Buried deep inside a steel and concrete cage, exiled from society to a place that houses thousands of the nation’s most hardened criminals, the human heart still beats affectionately. Of all the emotions, love may be the strongest. It can build you up and just as easily break you down. But, for some of the…
Go Native
This year, celebrate Valentine’s Day in style at San Luis Obispo’s ultra-chic lounge and restaurant, Native. # Located in the heart of downtown–at 1023 Chorro St.–Native definitely pulses to a beat of its own. In a city overflowing with college-themed bars, Native, which is full of positive energy and playful sophistication, offers Central Coast night-goers…
No lie: Feds fund less comfortable benches
The SLO City Public Works Department is in the process of installing 50 new bus stop benches, 47 new signs, and a pair of new bus stop shelters. The funding will come from a Federal Transit Administration grant–which means the feds will pick up about 80 percent of the cost, with the rest coming from…
Capps rejects ‘porker’ label
U.S. Rep. Lois Capps, D-Santa Barbara is shaking off criticism from Citizens Against Government Waste, a Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit group that recently named her and another California lawmaker as “Porkers of the Month.” The organization said that the lawmakers attempted to block the recovery of hundreds of millions of dollars in overpayments to Medicare providers…
More hard luck with hard money
State regulators are investigating a Paso Robles-based “hard money” lending firm in the wake of a spate of complaints by investors who allege that they haven’t received promised interest payments and stand to lose millions of dollars. The investors include dozens of senior citizens, as well as the North County Humane Society. The firm, Real…
Morro Bay: BYO glasses
On Feb. 11, the Morro Bay City Council voted unanimously to ban the use of city funds to purchase plastic water bottles or foam cups. “It was a way to do our part to encourage the residents to be more conscious of preserving the environment,” said Councilman Bill Peirce. Peirce explained that more and more…
Meet PETA’s anti-meat VP
Cal Poly’s annual Change the Status Quo conference will kick off on Feb. 15 with a poetry slam, followed the next day with workshops aimed at empowering young people through social action. The highlight of that conference will be a presentation by longtime animal rights activist and recent author Dan Mathews. As the vice president…
On food, wine, and love
Who needs Valentine’s Day to inspire romance when you’ve found your soul mate? Still, on the day devoted to love, I have to confess: I love a good love story. That’s why I always look forward to telling the romantic stories of local artisans in the food and wine industry. This year, I found three…
Unite on the dance floor!
Ah, Valentine’s Day! Is it some cheesy corporate holiday designed to peddle red teddy bears, chocolates, cards, flowers, lingerie, and nipple clamps? (Hey, just seeing if you’re awake!) Or is it rooted in history? Good question! I looked it up on the Internet, and there’s some blather about # Christian and ancient Roman traditions. The…
Police arrest man under suspicion of 2005 Ostman killing
On Feb. 11, SLO Police officers arrested a man in their years-long investigation into the 2005 homicide of Sharon Ostman. He was arrested moments after getting a GPS tracking device removed from his ankle at a parole office. The man, Freddie Joe Lewis, is a convicted sex offender who had lived and worked as a…
Developers would pay just 40 percent of cost to replace lost parking spots
The developers planning to build projects on top of SLO City-owned downtown surface parking lots would have to pay more, but still nowhere near the cost of replacing the spots in parking structures, under a plan the SLO City Council is due to consider on Feb. 19. Two major downtown projects, the Chinatown project and…
Letters
Allow us to bestow this honor upon you I am a student at our Lady of the Perpetual Douche Bag, where I presently study Douche Bag as a second language. The benevolence and sheer goodwill that you have displayed through renting to us Douche Bags has not gone unrecognized. I would like to acknowledge your…
A love crime you can get behind
Theater critics have referred to Shakespeare’s Othello whimsically–and perhaps aptly–as a play about a handkerchief. It also happens to be a play about love, jealousy, storytelling, and the incapacitating self-doubt of being an “other.” # But speaking as someone who had only experienced this tale in the pages of a book, PCPA production of Othello…
Clarification
A Jan. 10 cover story said that Supervisor Jerry Lenthall borrowed money from fellow supervisors to pay off what could be termed charitable obligations after the district’s Community Projects Grants fund was nearly drained by his predecessor, Peg Pinard. He did, but county Administrative Officer David Edge said that the fund was not in deficit…
Riding a bike can be hazardous to your health
I have ridden bicycles since I could walk. I love riding. I love the sensory aspects of riding: the wind in my face, the precariousness of balance, the air pushing its way into my lungs, and the near weightlessness of the experience when I reach that epiphany of power and motion, when gravity is merely…
Waiting for residents
# In the summer of 2006, when Cal Poly opened up a waiting list for 18 homes in the first phase of its Bella Montana faculty housing project, 80 families got on the list and crossed their fingers in the hopes of winning a spot to be determined by lottery. Pat Fidopiastis, an assistant professor…
It’s a Spandex fandango!
On Feb. 21, 17 of the world’s top professional cycling teams will race through the streets of downtown San Luis Obispo when the 2008 Amgen Tour of California rolls into town. If past races are any indication of what’s to come, expect crowds of crazed cycling fans packed on sidewalks, cheering loudly as the best…
More Cougars are on the prowl
During the spring 2008 semester, Cuesta College set an all-time high enrollment record with 11,944 students seeking higher education from the Central Coast community college. According to a press release, enrollment statistics increased at each of Cuesta College’s four sites. The San Luis Obispo campus experienced a slight growth, the North County campus increased the…
Take your time–it’s only murder
I haven’t believed what’s on TV since I saw that blind girl on Little House flinch one time Mr. Edwards grinned at her, but we seem to have entered a different dimension of unreality and TV with our local take on CSI. On CSI they can get DNA out of a person’s aura with some…
Fast facts
First-time business owners Brad and Jennifer Bunderle recently opened Pacifica Rejuvenation Center, a one-of-a-kind med-spa in Paso Robles. After working as a physician’s assistant for 19 years, Brad decided to follow his passion of helping others improve their health and lifestyles. He immersed himself in the study of preventative and regenerative medicine, and together with…
Making sense of the censure
Without warning, four members of the Pismo Beach City Council formally censured their fifth and feistiest member, Bill Rabenaldt, on Feb. 5, saying he’d violated the self-proclaimed clam capital of the world’s code of ethics. # At issue were e-mails he sent to city staffers questioning why, since the powerful Coastal Commission has called it…
