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Graduating the first challenge: Grizzly Youth Academy Class No. 43 completes the 22-week program
Editor’s note: New Times followed eight Grizzly Youth Academy students from the start of their journey at the quasi-military program to the end. This is the third installment in the series. The second installment was split into two parts. “Personal growth” was published Oct. 17 and “New outlook” was published Oct. 24. Gray clouds took…
Film Listings, 1/30/20 – 2/6/20
All theater listings are as of Friday, Jan. 30. Editor’s note: Listings for Paso Robles’ Park Cinemas were not available at press time. Visit parkcinemas.com or call (805) 227-2172 for films and show times. BAD BOYS FOR LIFE What’s it rated? R What’s it worth? Matinee Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Stadium 10 Pick…
MAD Magazine senior editor hosts talk at CCAT
The Cambria Center for the Arts Theatre (CCAT) presents An Evening of MAD Comedy, with special guest Joe Raiola, on Thursday, Feb. 13, from 7 to 8:30 p.m. The senior editor emeritus at MAD Magazine will reflect on his 33-year career at the publication and offer a rare behind-the-scenes peek inside “America’s Dumbest Magazine.” Admission…
Kin Coffee Bar in SLO treats its drinks and the community like a tribe—you’re going to want to call it your ‘place’
Welcome to the family Owned by local siblings and run primarily by Julian Contreras, Kin Coffee Bar is a traditional coffee shop in that it serves as a community hub for ideas, conversation, and of course, coffee. Kin’s menu includes coffee drinks, super food lattes, matcha drinks, and signature drinks, as well as fresh bakery…
Local poets interpret SLOMA’s permanent collection
The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art (SLOMA) hosts its next Art at High Noon meeting on Thursday, Feb. 6, at noon. Several SLO County-based poets will present original compositions, inspired by the museum’s permanent collection, during this free event. The museum is located at 1010 Broad St., San Luis Obispo. To find out more…
Savor the flavor
Daisy Delights Cake Studio is celebrating its new location at 330 Tefft St., suite F, in Nipomo with kids activities, music, signature cupcakes, and prizes every hour, including a chance to win free cupcakes for a year (which is kind of exciting to visualize). The cake fest happens Feb. 1 from 10 a.m. to 2…
A briefer break: Lucia Mar Unified School District board member lobbies to bring schedule in sync with parents
The Lucia Mar Unified School District is the only public school system in SLO County with a full three weeks off for winter break. Colleen Martin has been pushing to change that for years. “It’s been one of my pet peeves for a really long time,” Martin told New Times. Martin is a college and…
Raise a glass
Opolo Vineyards of Paso announced that it earned six gold medals at the prestigious 2020 San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition Jan. 10—including a Best of Class award for the 2018 vintage of its iconic Mountain Zinfandel. The winery’s 2017 Grand Rouge red blend also earned a Best of Class designation, while four additional wines—the 2017…
Oceano CSD votes to reconsider controversial bar on Cynthia Replogle’s committee participation
The Oceano Community Services District (OCSD) board of directors had anticipated catching some flack for its decision to bar one board member from serving on committees in 2020, and just a few minutes into the board’s first meeting since that controversial vote, things were already off to a rocky start. The board had only made…
Wine time
Lone Madrone is hosting a Cheese Event on Feb. 1 at the winery on 5800 Adelaida Road in Paso. Tickets, $25 at lonemadrone.orderport.net, include a tasting of Westcombe cheddar paired with Lone Madrone wines. Hand-picked by chef Jeffrey Scott, the hard-to-come-by wheel of English cheese is this year’s great find for the casual event, so…
Glitter trash act Hayley and the Crushers releases their new vinyl at O’Sullivan’s Pub on Jan. 31
Hayley and the Crushers’ new album, Vintage Millennial, kicks off with “Put a Little Action In Ya,” a two-minute barnburner that sounds like it was a hidden track on an early Go-Go’s album. Dripping with sexual innuendo and with tongue firmly in cheek, Hayley sings, “So tired of missing your love. I think it’s time…
A rebuttal to rhetoric
Cynthia Replogle’s opinion published in the Jan. 16 edition of New Times (“Punished for speaking”) is a typical political ploy to play the innocent victim after aggressively attacking her adversaries. In Cynthia’s opinion, she describes her approach to the political office she holds as accessible, inclusive, open, and informative along with other basic elementary decorum…
Josiah Johnstone sentenced to four years and eight months prison time
The San Luis Obispo County courthouse was busy as usual on the morning of Jan. 28, bustling with suit-clad lawyers, worried defendants, and courthouse employees, all rushing off to somewhere. Amid the commotion, a group of about eight men and women stood outside the Department 6 courtroom just after 11:30 a.m., wiping away tears, hugging,…
Mary’s tamales
Unless you stayed until the Tamale Eating Contest and the Chihuahua Costume Contest at the fifth annual Tamale Festival in Atascadero, you may have missed Emcee Franky’s announcement: Chef Mary Sanchez of Mary’s Cuisine Catering Services won both the Traditional and Gourmet Tamale competitions. Which is impressive, considering the blind tasting consisted of more than…
SLO to consider salary increases for mayor and council
Significant raises could be in store for the San Luis Obispo mayor and City Council if the city adopts a compensation committee’s recommendations on Feb. 4. The committee, which met four times in 2019, has recommended 63 percent salary increases for council members and a 46 percent salary increase for the mayor. If approved at…
Emergency funding for Ride-On
Over the past three years, the San Luis Obispo Council of Government (SLOCOG) has diverted almost $1 million of social service transportation funding from Ride-On Transportation to fund its Senior Go program and other projects. This year, SLOCOG is providing only $215,000 or 4 percent of Ride-On’s $5 million budget, which provides 168,000 social service…
Oceano residents will vote on a parcel tax to fund Fire Authority
The Oceano Community Services District (CSD) boardroom was full on Jan. 25. Residents were there to hear presentations from the Five Cities Fire Authority fire chief and general manager about Measure A-20. Some in the crowd wore red shirts that read “Yes On A Supporters.” Measure A-20, if passed, would maintain rapid response times for…
Oso Flaco isn’t for development
The Oso Flaco Lake region is recognized as one of the most sensitive and valuable ecological regions in California. Its coastal freshwater dune lakes are geologically rare, and its vegetation is home to a number of rare plant species. By their nature, these species are very sensitive to human disturbance. Why then has the Oceano…
Beraud goes on the attack in New Times candidate forum
San Luis Obispo County supervisor candidate Ellen Beraud went on the offensive in a Jan. 22 election forum with incumbent Supervisor Debbie Arnold, bluntly calling Arnold’s tenure in office a “failure of leadership,” marked by “inaction” and “missed opportunities.” The former Atascadero mayor is looking to unseat Arnold, a two-term incumbent, in the 2020 primary…
Cognitive dissonance
According to psychologydictionary.org, cognitive dissonance is “a state of conflict occurring when beliefs or assumptions are contradicted by new information … the conflict produces feelings of discomfort, which the individual seeks to relieve by reconciling the differences, by convincing himself they do not exist, or by adopting some other type of defensive maneuver.” The SLO…
The Morro Bay visitor center could relocate by April
The Morro Bay City Council directed staff on Jan. 28 to explore budget options and the benefits of relocating the existing visitor center to a recently vacated storefront on the Embarcadero. In a recent Google review of the visitor center, user Omar Toured posted, “Great visitor center! So glad we stopped by for 10 minutes…
Vets are angry
Why are many local veterans angry with Ellen Beraud and oppose her bid to be elected as the supervisor for the 5th District, encompassing Atascadero, and rural areas east and south of the Cuesta Grade? If you listen to her commercials, she describes herself as an “independent,” a businesswoman, and someone with vision and leadership…
Winemaker Tobin James faces charges for shooting at ‘harassing’ neighbor’s golf cart
Paso Robles winemaker Tobin James Shumrick is facing criminal charges from the San Luis Obispo County District Attorney’s Office for allegedly shooting the wheels of a neighbor’s golf cart and vandalizing his truck in an altercation last October. Shumrick, the founder of Tobin James Cellars, is pleading not guilty to three charges: felony shooting at…
Dysfunction junction
Democracy is great, as long as you’re on the winning side, but when you’re not, that whole “majority rules” thing is a real bitch. Just ask Oceano Community Service District (OSCD) member Cynthia Replogle, the perpetual odd woman out on many of the OCSD votes. She dissented so often and so vigorously that the board…
Survey finds support for sales tax increase in Arroyo Grande
Arroyo Grande is the latest in a string of SLO County cities working to find out whether their residents would support a sales tax increase. For the city of Arroyo Grande, things are off to a good start. According to the results of a survey conducted by True North Research in November 2019, roughly 55…
Sound off
New Times readers took to Facebook to share their thoughts on our Jan. 23 Letter to the Editor, “Bikes should be taxed like cars.”
Best-selling author Wendelin Van Draanen releases first nonfiction book, Hope in the Mail
You’ve got mail Wendelin Van Draanen released her latest book, Hope in the Mail: Reflections on Writing and Life, on Jan. 14. For more information about the book and Van Draanen, visit wendelinvand.com. The title of Central Coast local Wendelin Van Draanen’s new book alludes to the author’s persistence in sending her unpublished novels to…
The Gentlemen is a frenetic crime romp
THE GENTLEMEN What’s it rated? R What’s it worth, Anna? Matinee What’s it worth, Glen? Matinee Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Galaxy, Stadium 10 Writer-director Guy Ritchie (Snatch, Sherlock Holmes, Aladdin) helms this crime-action film about cannabis drug lord Mickey Pearson (Matthew McConaughey), who’s trying to sell his profitable business to billionaire Matthew Berger (Jeremy…
Third annual Cambria Film Festival attracts thousands of submissions and some big Hollywood names
On screen The Cambria Film Festival will take place Feb. 6 through 9 with more than 80 screenings at three different theaters. For tickets, the full schedule, and more info, visit cambriafilmfestival.com. How do you host an international film festival in a small town that doesn’t have a movie theater? You get creative. “Nancy [Green]…
Guilty Pleasures: Cheer
When? 2020 What’s it rated? TV-MA Where’s it available? Netflix Ready? OK! One, two, three, four, cheerleading is a sport I never thought about before … until now. I should also confess that I never really thought about cheerleading as a sport, but that all changed once I started watching Cheer, a Netflix original docuseries.…
Great American Melodrama presents Pump Boys and Dinettes
Pump Boys and Dinettes opens at the Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville on Thursday, Jan. 23, at 7 p.m. From Los Angeles-based director Allison Bibicoff, this iteration of the Tony Award-nominated musical runs through Sunday, March 8, with performances held Thursdays and Fridays at 7 p.m., Saturdays at 3 and 7 p.m., and Sundays at…
