Cover Story
Junk debt: How the open market for delinquent debts leads to lawsuits and wage garnishments
There are a variety of terms you’ll hear when people talk about this money issue, including “unsecured debt” and “debt buyers.” Among those who’ve felt the business end of a related lawsuit, it’s usually called “junk debt.” But for Diane Gillett, “it was the perfect storm of crap.” “I said I was a shit magnet,”…
Morro Bay artist M.L. Burdick brings color and complexity to Linnaea’s Cafe
When M.L. (Margaret) Burdick saw a documentary about greed, she did not intend for its themes of human suffering and rampant materialism to end up in her art. But, lo and behold, there it was—in golden hues and red splotches—infused into one of her abstract ink paintings moments later. The result was unexpected, subtle, and…
Fired Oceano general manager runs for a seat on the board that fired him
The last time Lonnie Curtis was in an Oceano Community Services District Board of Directors meeting, he was unanimously terminated by the board, he called a critic a “hemorrhoid,” and he stormed out of the boardroom. About four months later, Curtis has changed his tune. Although he was fired from his position as OCSD general…
What makes you grumpy?
Betsi Clark social media & marketing “Just having to go to the bathroom. It feels like such a chore.” Kendra Dimino student “Probably when I realize my roommate drank all my milk. Alex Wielandt student “Waking up early on a weekend.” Mike Jennings retired “I try not to get grumpy.”
Vina Robles 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon and Nautical Bean’s Rainforest Latte
Vina Robles 2011 Cabernet Sauvignon Wine people are invariably my people. My friends and family like to drink it, know how to cook with it, and don’t feel weird talking about it at length (is anyone else getting movie theater popcorn butter on the finish?) My husband, on the other hand, isn’t one of…
Romance for all
Best date night ever: Grab your partner and twirl barefoot under the stars at Windrose Farms in Paso Robles. The new one-hour Tango and Swing dance lessons are $10 per person and include fresh farm produce and local wines. Sign up for the very first class, which kicks off 7 to 9 p.m. on Aug.…
Nom Nom Nom The Good Food ‘Truck’
Nom Nom Nom The Good Food Truck isn’t actually a truck. Covered in chalkboard paint and colorful customer doodles, the compact two-wheeler—slyly named after the sound one makes when consuming a most masterful meal—is more like the little food trailer that could. Since opening the mobile business last year, Paso Robles husband and wife team…
Preparation J
Is there a word for birds that only know a single song, and then they sing that song over and over until you start looking for a frying pan or really large cat to just make the singing stop, for the love of god? I’m only asking because I’ve been dealing with a particularly chirpy…
Be consistent
In the July 10 issue of New Times, I was pleased to read both Jono Kinkade’s article “Anti up” and the “Shredinator’s” comments (“Over a double barrel of ale”) regarding the decision by Paso Robles’ City Council to disallow a reputable cardroom to move into Adam Firestone’s business neighborhood. It blatantly appears that the playing…
Help maintain the community’s investment
Dear community members: To fully understand where Cuesta College is today, I need to start from the beginning. I came to Cuesta College as a 26-year-old man in 1967, three years after the college was created. I was a math teacher and football coach, working on what many today consider the “old campus.” We worked…
Bibliophiles assemble: SLO Literacy Council seeks tutors
According to a study conducted by the U.S. Department of Education in 2012, about 14 percent of the population cannot read. In addition, 21 percent of adults read below a fifth grade level. And in San Luis Obispo County, there are an estimated 25,000 adults who are functionally illiterate. The San Luis Obispo Literacy Council…
Cougars & Mustangs
Patrick Hickey, Tyler Grossi, Ryan May, Austin Feavel, Loren Acosta, Michael Silva, Grace Stokes, Michael Mullen … holy smokes! Congratulations! Cuesta IS an awesome school, but education is a tool, a technology, that isn’t by itself the answer to all of your problems. Even if we could take a step back and pretend that school…
A basin situation: South County water issues are coming to a boil
As water becomes scarcer every day in dried-up San Luis Obispo County, the cracks are starting to show—literally and metaphorically. As the water level steadily drops in reservoirs, wells, and various groundwater basins, the political rhetoric is much harsher, conservation measures are more stringent, and everyone’s patience is growing thin. In particular, preexisting tensions over…
Ripple effects: Low revenue caused by low lake levels may bring layoffs to staff at Lake San Antonio and Nacimiento
The road to Lake San Antonio is bordered by plenty of indications of how dry California is these days. Barren hillsides are more pale than the typical golden-brown hue of grass in the summer. There’s the occasional pocket of scorched earth studded with trees charred to a crisp from a roadside fire sparked by a…
Grover Beach hires a firm for street repair bond education
The Grover Beach City Council took the next steps on a $48 million street repair bond measure at its July 21 meeting. Since the dollar amount has been finalized and the wording of the measure is all but set in stone, the council is now turning its attention to getting the word out about the…
Suspect identified in Atascadero grass fires
A 14-year-old with a lighter seems to have sparked a busy afternoon for North County firefighters on July 18. The Atascadero Fire Department responded to two vegetation fires near Atascadero Lake Park shortly after 2 p.m. Firefighters responded to and extinguished a burning patch of grass on the 9100 block of Morro Road, adjacent to…
John Conner has dropped out of the race for San Luis Obispo mayor
One of San Luis Obispo Mayor Jan Marx’s only competitors announced that he’s no longer in the running. In an email, John Conner, who owns Petit Soleil bed and breakfast in SLO, said he decided to drop out of the race for mayor. “I have decided to end my run for Mayor of San Luis…
Huasna Valley area oil project shrinks in scope
Dero Parker is frustrated. He’s frustrated by the community resistance he didn’t really expect, and frustrated by a permitting environment he’s not used to. Mostly though, he said it’s the high bar that’s been set for his proposed oil-drilling project that frustrates him. “I don’t have the financial wherewithal to fight a group like the…
Gorgeous folk duo Birds of Chicago plays July 26 at Castoro Cellars
Have you ever noticed how some voices seem to go together, complement one another, and weave around each other like children playing a game in a field of wildflowers? That’s what I hear when Allison Russell and J.T. Nero—the two core members of Birds of Chicago—sing together. Separately, his voice is a countrified singing-out-of-the-corner-of-his-mouth croon…
Former SLO resident Christine McKinley returns to town July 24 to read from her new book and play music at Linnaea’s
If you’ve ever watched The History Channel television show Brad Meltzer’s Decoded, or if you happened to live in SLO in the mid-’90s and followed the music scene, you’ve seen Christine McKinley—the willowy, Cal Poly-educated mechanical engineer and ethereal musician who eventually escaped SLO town for the larger (and arguably hipper) Portland music scene. I…
Weird Al has a new album; Cambria’s Pewter Plough Playhouse stages Neil Simon’s Barefoot in the Park
You Can Call Me Al Last week, I did not think I needed a pop-polka version of the dance/lumberjack hit, “Timber.” Boy was I wrong. Once again, Cal Poly alum and master of parody Weird Al has proven he’s pretty much the best thing since they put the pocket in pita. It’s been three years…
Central Coast Shakespeare Festival brings laughs with ‘The Taming of the Shrew’ and ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream’
From the moment viewers step out of their cars at the Central Coast Shakespeare Festival (CCSF), they are transported back in time. Not to the sixteenth century, but to the Wild West. Viewers walk down a hill into a canyon of golden-brown grass, cut off from the rest of modern life. As seats are found…
Clubs 7/24/14-7/31/14
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…
