Cover Story
Mercury rising
Wind rustled short stalks of dry, brown grass at the abandoned mercury mine just outside of Paso Robles. What used to be 320 acres of mercury mining operations is now known as the “Klau/Buena Vista Mine” and it’s the site of a federal attempt to keep mercury from spreading more than it already has. The…
Off-roader shows contempt for the environment
Kevin P. Rice is circulating an accusation that the grand jury is “tainted green” (“Tainted green,” July 16). Tainted green? The word “tainted” is being used to imply that it is not honorable to go green, to have respect for Mother Nature, to tread lightly. The grand jury decision he does not like was not about…
Save our trees
The unfortunate plans for “downtown beautification”, which include cutting down century-old trees that shade our streets and add to the lush history of this small town, have already begun. Like many other concerned citizens of San Luis Obispo, I was upset to hear that these gentle giants were tagged for removal, but somehow my fears were…
County pension trustees should adjust priorities
In June 2008, as a county employee, I sought—unsuccessfully—to be elected as a Trustee to the San Luis Obispo County’s Pension Trust Board. My platform had four major points: 1. Where financially sound, the pension trust would give preference to environmentally friendly technology. For instance, an equity interest in a solar farm would generate stable…
Sarah Christie guides county planning wisely
It’s no suprise Commissioner Christie is a target for Andy Caldwell and the vocal minority he represents, whose mission is to systematically exploit loopholes, weaken existing policies, and get around laws intended to protect public welfare and safety. Andy Caldwell, a longtime voice for anti-government, right-wing extremism in Santa Barbara County, has expanded his reach…
Tooting Toots’ horn
I’m of the mind that reggae basically begins and ends with Bob Marley, which is why I have to admit my surprise that I’m still listening to Toots and the Maytals’ 2007 album Light Your Light. Even after a couple of years, it’s still kicking around my play pile. In fact, I was just listening…
What should be done to help people who lack shelter?
Sierra Crocker traveler “You need an ID for most shelters and that’s a problem for some people who have lost theirs. It’s complicated to provide all the documentation to get a state ID. There should be group homes where people can live and work cooperatively.” Tim Blackmon pastor “We need to provide place to live,…
Cal Poly Arts turns a quarter of a century
Cal Poly Arts celebrates 25 years of performances with a fabulous 2009-10 season. Stage shows: Lerner & Loewe’s beloved Camelot and Broadway’s Tony Award-winning irreverent musical puppet piece, Avenue Q; John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men; Reduced Shakespeare’s The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged), as well as the dance spectacle Ballroom with a Twist.…
Hear their voices
New Times How did Momentus International start? Anya Kandel I did my thesis on storytelling in Ghana. That spurred my inspiration for this project, which is studying inter-cultural communication, and I founded Momentus International a few years ago, in the Netherlands and in Ghana. In Ghana we were there for three months and worked in…
The mind is its own place
Accurately describing Bizarro fiction is more difficult than landing a leprechaun-manned time machine in Paradise Garden, but less difficult than fending off an assault from thousands of flying sharks. Both are scenarios in Cameron Pierce’s Shark Hunting in Paradise Garden, released by Bizarro publisher Eraserhead Press in 2008. Within a genre that Pierce calls “the…
Drama on steroids
If you’re the sentimental sort who yearns for the days when the line between good and bad guys was easily drawn, the bad guys always got their come-uppance, and everyone went about their business in corsets, gun-slings, and colorful vests, the Great American Melodrama and Vaudeville’s Gold Fever at the Rough and Ready might be…
From laundry to landscaping
Tapping into household graywater from washing-machine and shower drains is becoming cheaper and simpler, with new statewide emergency plumbing standards set to take effect Aug. 4. Inspired by the ongoing drought and the need for water conservation around the state, the new rules eliminate the need for a costly permit, underground installation, and extensive filtering…
Legislature says no to drilling in state waters
The California Legislature refused to approve a budget provision the governor sought that would have permitted the first offshore drilling in state waters in 41 years, thereby upholding the long-standing authority of the State Lands Commission to approve leases. Commission chair Lt. Gov. John Garamendi called the attempt by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to bypass the…
Not so fast:
It very much sounded like the end of the line for Dan DeVaul’s work with the homeless and penniless. The founder of the ramshackle Sunny Acres treatment center went on Dave Congalton’s radio show July 27 and announced he was done fighting county code enforcers and the district attorney’s office and so was closing the…
State threatens takeaways, but local governments are fighting back
While the state is looking to balance its budget on their backs, local officials are working to make sure it doesn’t happen again. City mayors, county supervisors, and representatives for local schools participated in a recent summit aimed at shifting more fiscal control from the state to local governments. John Shoals, mayor for the city…
Bus drive on verge of strike
About 50 bus drivers throughout SLO may be going on strike if their union isn’t recognized. Drivers for the Regional Transit Authority (RTA) were scheduled to vote on July 30 whether to begin a strike on Aug. 3. The drivers work for the SLO County Regional Transit Authority, which provides connecting routes between incorporated cities…
Wilcox and Perry: OMG!
Former deputy county administrator and labor negotiator Gail Wilcox had a sexual relationship with Deputy Sheriff’s Association leader Tony Perry. According to an investigative report by attorney Sarah Robertson, Wilcox and Perry were involved sexually while the county and DSA were in active labor negotiations, a blatant conflict of interest. This is just one detail…
Fuel-efficient fun
As a nation that consumes more oil than any other, we know changes are due. Mark Shaffer created FunRide as a step in the right direction. Shaffer is the executive director and founder of the nonprofit Ride-On Transportation. Four years ago, he began to consider forming a company that could combine the economy of car…
Scared of government health care
To those few folks who actually believe the bogus government health care atrocity currently being foisted off upon us, peruse the following quote: “The state lies in all the tongues of good and evil, and whatever it says is lies, and whatever it has, it has stolen, everything it is, is false, it bites with…
Veterans deserve government health care
The last thing veterans deserve for their service is for their physical and psychological rehabilitation to be managed by an organization whose concern is profit (“Do veterans deserve socialist health care?” July 23). A person injured or traumatized while serving their country should not be subject to having their medical care scrutinized and balanced against…
Who pays Caldwell?
SLO County has an excellent planning commission: They work so long and hard and deal so well with very complex issues. Their chairperson leads with skill, humor, and continually amazes me. I was very disturbed to read the commentary in the July 23 New Times, “Remove Sarah Christie from the planning commission,” by Andy Caldwell.…
Define “activist”
Andy Caldwell’s call for Sarah Christie’s ouster from the planning commission (“Remove Sarah Christie from the planning commission,” July 23) is full of holes. It displays a conveniently myopic view of the role of the planning commission and is a gratuitously ad hominem attack. He overlooks the fact that the vast majority of the citizenry,…
Supes should tune out Caldwell
In his hit piece seeking to trump up a fake scandal around County Planning Commission Chair Sarah Christie (“Remove Sarah Christie from the planning commission,” July 23), Andy Caldwell complains that, “… board members seem recalcitrant to see that justice is done with respect to this scandal as they could choose to remove Christie themselves.” …
Yank Christie
Of course Sarah Christie should be removed from the planning commission. I think the bigger question is why the other members have not already done it. The problem is these corrupt actions are rampant in all of our government and the leadership we trust to do the right thing is lacking in integrity and honesty…
Caldwell’s a corporate shill
Andy Caldwell’s anti-Sarah-Christie screed (“Remove Sarah Christie from the planning commission,” July 23) might be considered humorous were it not so blatantly self-serving. Anyone who has followed Mr. Caldwell’s “career” knows that he has survived because he is a shameless shill for corporate agriculture, in a provincial sense, and a relentless pro-business mouthpiece, in a…
It’s not against code to protest
Everybody’s wondering where the poor folks, addicted folks, and mentally ill folks will go once Sunny Acres shuts down, something owner Dan DeVaul says is happening July 31. If you see Patrick Howe’s story this week, you get the sense maybe they’re not going anywhere and that this whole thing is a either simply a…
Leslie McKinley,
New Times: In a nutshell, what is the goal of the Community Action Partnership? McKinley: Our mission is to empower individuals and families to achieve economic self-sufficiency and self-determination through comprehensive community-based programs. We have served the county for 45 years. New Times: Because of the current economy, have you seen an increase the amount…
Estancia 2008 Pinot Grigio California
This vintage is yet another outstanding value-priced wine by winemaker Scott Kelley. Hued a light gold, this tasty wine offers upfront flavors of ripe pear, tangy nectarine, and citrus. Well-balanced and zesty, it will enhance an array of summertime foods. Try it with fish tacos, sushi, or main course salads with chicken and peaches. Only…
Qupe 2005 Syrah Bien Nacido Hillside Estate
Winemaker Bob Lindquist considers this one of the very best vintages he has experienced on the Central Coast. This Syrah is grown in the Z-Block at Bien Nacido Vineyard, five acres planted exclusively for Qupe in 1992, grown on a southwest-facing slope. It’s an age-worthy wine that will continue to improve over the next decade,…
Unexpectedly gourmet
I never saw it coming, not at all, after judging some pretty bad chili competitions over the past decade where the ground beef tasted like something the USDA should have recalled. So imagine my shock when I judged the Paso Robles Rotary Winemakers’ Cook-Off last year, and tasted through an amazing array of gourmet dishes.…
