Cover Story
Fa la la la landfill: What happens to all of those holiday wrappings and frills once the new year rolls around?
Of all the nostalgic images that illustrate the holiday season—lights and puppies and families huddled around the fire in cheesy sweaters, mugs of hot cocoa safely in hand—there is one sight that’s generated much discussion about our civilization’s consumption habits in the 21st century: post-holiday waste. What do we do with all the leftover…
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office announces the creation of human trafficking task force
The San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office recently announced the formation of a new, multi-agency Human Trafficking Task Force. According to the task force’s mission statement, it will prevent and combat trafficking through education, protect and assist victims with full respect for their human rights, and promote cooperation among law enforcement and community organizations…
Veteran comic Kathleen Madigan comes to Cal Poly’s Performing Arts Center
They don’t make comedians like Kathleen Madigan anymore—the kind of blue-collar, everyman’s comic who tours from town to town for the pure love of a live show. Born to a large Irish Catholic family in the Midwest, Madigan came up with the likes of fellow friends Lewis Black and Ron White. Over the past 25…
Cal Poly Greek life placed on probation
In a campus-wide announcement made Jan. 13, top Cal Poly administrators said that all Greek organizations on campus have been placed on “temporary social probation.” “We do not take this action lightly and are making it only after careful consideration,” said the letter signed by President Jeffrey Armstrong, Vice President for Student Affairs Keith Humphrey,…
The Arroyo Grande City Council picks an interim city manager
After two months of searching, the Arroyo Grande City Council has finally tapped someone to guide the city through its leadership transition. Robert McFall—a veteran city administrator who spent 22 years as the assistant city manager of Glendale—was appointed as the interim city manager of Arroyo Grande by a unanimous council vote on Jan. 13.…
Refreshing the books: Get to know some of California’s 930 new laws
In stark contrast to our national Congress, the California Assembly and Senate had a very productive 2014. All told, the legislature sent Gov. Jerry Brown more than 1,000 bills during the 2014 legislative session. Brown ended up vetoing 143—about 13 percent—of them, and signed 930 new bills into law. We’ve featured a few of these…
Another death marks the fourth inmate to have died at the San Luis Obispo County Jail in less than a year
An inmate recently collapsed while under medical care at the San Luis Obispo County Jail and was pronounced dead soon thereafter, marking the fourth inmate death in less than a year. According to a Sheriff’s Office press release, 63-year-old David Osborn Sr. had been complaining of a blood sugar imbalance on the morning of Jan.…
Lawyers spar over evidence in Cal Poly robbery case
In an overstuffed San Luis Obispo Superior Court hearing that has played out over three days and counting, a small army of lawyers has traded motions, objections, and quips back and forth—all for the purpose of determining the strength of the case against five Cal Poly student athletes charged with carrying out an August 2014…
What’s your New Year’s resolution?
Kira McCall front desk, Kennedy Fitness “This year I’m going to try to look on the positive side of things.” Tim Smith retail representative, Tennis Warehouse “Pay off bills, be more prompt, get fit—the usual stuff.” Diana Northness online supervisor, Running Warehouse “I want to make an effort to more joyful.” Matt Kincade operations manager,…
Two local shows celebrate the songs, stories, and legacy of Utah Phillips
All I need to know about the philosophy, passion, and soul of Bruce “Utah” Phillips (May 15, 1935 – May 23, 2008) can be summed up in one of his statements: “The state can’t give you freedom, and the state can’t take it away. You’re born with it, like your eyes, like your ears. Freedom…
San Luis Obispo Museum of Art screens the PBS documentary ‘Craft in America: Origins’.
Let me just get this off my chest: I hate doing crafts, mostly because I suck at them, and it’s incredibly depressing to look at the myriad projects I was forced to do in my childhood and see how sad and pathetic they actually are. Also, because the one time I actually attempted a pottery…
Performance artist Rebecca Kling explores issues of transgender identity at Cal Poly
People have been mining their personal lives for entertainment since Sophocles accidentally married his mother all those years ago. OK, maybe that was fiction, but great theater has always been an exploration of authentic human emotion that derives from real-life experience. Performance artist Rebecca Kling is no different. She writes and performs stories from her…
Let it grow: The SLO Little Theatre embraces its roots in ‘The Secret Garden’
If your childhood was anything like mine, your mom probably made you watch a multitude of old movies over and over and over again. Everything from The Quiet Man—which I’ve seen enough to last three lifetimes—to Jane Eyre to The Secret Garden. I hated The Quiet Man, and I was pretty terrified of Orson Welles,…
Home is where the wine is: After a decade, Alta Colina builds base for estate-grown Rhônes
Like extra sharp cheddar or a handsome man who will make you morning tea with just the right amount of honey, all experiences worth having in life are worth waiting for. This is especially true in the wine business, where schedules are based on the glacial growth of grape vines, the subtle art of aging,…
Cypher Winery’s 2012 ZinBitch and BNA Wine Group’s 2012 Humble Pie Central Coast Cab
When two forces of nature collide, watch out. I am speaking both of my recent reunion with a dear old pal and the food and the wine pairing we so thoroughly annihilated. Imagine this: Fresh, wood-fired pizza bubbling with aged blue cheese and topped with salty, thin strips of prosciutto. Pair those intense flavors with…
South County Sippin’
Congrats are in order! Arroyo Grande’s Laetitia Vineyard & Winery and NADIA Wines recently took the Houston Livestock Show & Rodeo Int’l Wine Competition with a double-gold medal for NADIA Wines’ 2012 Santa Barbara County Cabernet Sauvignon and silver medals for Laetitia Vineyard & Winery’s NV Brut Cuvee, 2011 Brut Rose, 2012 La Coupelle Pinot…
Let your colors run: Color Blast Fun Run honors SLO High senior
We all know that exercise is an important part of maintaining a healthy lifestyle, but it’s also terrible, and that’s just a fact. To quote the immortal words of Ann Perkins, “Jogging is the worst! I mean I know it keeps you healthy, but God. At what cost?” Of course, there are always the outliers…
Cougars & Mustangs
The elegant footprints of your collegiate spirit animal have led you here. You have perhaps identified by now that these tracks are of feline origin. For those without the ability to separate out-of-game knowledge with the knowledge your character would have, you may already be aware by the title of this lowly column that this…
Doubling down: There’s much ado about a zoning amendment necessary for a cardroom’s relocation in Paso Robles
The age-old expression about not succeeding, then trying, trying again is a good fit for the owners of a Paso Robles cardroom who are looking to move the business location and expand—a move that can’t happen without a city-approved zoning change, and then the acquisition of a permit. In July 2014, brothers Don and Rob…
Atascadero finalized its ban on dumpster diving
It’s final: Rummaging and scavenging through trash is now banned in Atascadero. The City Council finalized the anti-scavenging ordinance with a 5-0 vote on Jan. 13, after initially passing the ordinance in its first reading in December. The ban was a response to residential complaints about people rummaging through their recycling bins looking for cans…
Planning Commission again delays a decision on the quarry near Santa Margarita
After a second long hearing on a proposed quarry near Santa Margarita, San Luis Obispo County planning commissioners again decided to delay a vote so they could take more time to chew on the project. The commission first heard the matter on Dec. 11, when it was inundated with testimony from Santa Margarita area residents…
Clubs 1/15/15-1/22/15
Goin’ South … THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Road, 773-5000 or cliffsresort.com. CUVEE BISTRO AND CHAMPAGNE BAR: 550 1st St., Avila Beach, 595-2245. Live music Thurs. and Sat. 6-9pm. 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…
So investigate, maybe?
The good news, kids, is that I won’t be asking you to burn down any buildings or engage in any other renegade behavior that might interrupt your regularly scheduled programming. The bad news is this isn’t going to be one of my more heavy-handed pieces, where I wield my pen—or, in this case, keyboard—with the…
What is all this hurt for?
Thank you, Bob Cuddy, for your factual commentary (“Jan. 1 didn’t erase 2014’s wounds in Arroyo Grande,” Jan. 8) about the A.G. hijacked election! Finally, a concise insight into all of the players. As another A.G. resident, and part of the quiet majority, we truly appreciate you putting it out there. Families hurt and displaced—why…
Why rage against the dying of the drank?
I just finished reading the letter from Tori Eccles (“You made a mistake!” Jan. 8) and wanted to assure you that the author made the mistake of believing you made a mistake, so relax. According to the Second Edition of the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, “The standard and most frequent form of the past participle…
The fault in our spell checker
Concerning your note to Tori Eccles (“You made a mistake!” Jan. 8): Damn spell check, huh? I don’t think I will manager my words with spell check anymore. Oh, and I do cringe every time I hear a sports announcer use a wrong verb. It seems like many of them were never taught to properly…
How close?
Really? Twenty-eight column inches on a pissing match between the farmers’ market operators and Rib Line Catering (“Rib Line appeals a farmers’ market suspension,” Jan. 8), while the mayor of Pismo Beach is quoted as saying she has been “up close and personal” with a garbage-collection truck and she likes it (“Pismo council approves $184K…
New Times: progressive cowards
You, unlike the journalists at Charlie Hebdo, are acting like cowards by cautioning against “assigning blame to a single religion” (“#JeSuisCharlie,” Jan. 8). Your progressive mindset is blinding you. Radical Islamists are behind the vast majority of terrorist attacks this century, and worldwide most “regular” Islamists will not unconditionally condemn these acts. Maybe New Times…
Arroyo Grande needs facts, not opinions
Perspective is a difficult thing to argue against, and that is precisely what Mr. Cuddy’s opinion piece titled “Jan. 1 didn’t erase 2014’s wounds in Arroyo Grande” (Jan. 8) attempts to do. Perspective depends on a person’s opinion, which is also difficult to refute. Words used by Mr. Cuddy like “disgraceful,” “engineered,” “burst into City…
