Cover Story
Fields of dreams?
Victor left Mexico for the United States when he was 17 years old. His only contact was a friend of a friend who could help him get a job in the fields in Santa Maria, more than 2,000 miles from his home in Oaxaca, a southern state of Mexico that’s one of the most impoverished…
BITES – June 27, 2013
Ah, yes, it’s that time of year again. The time when everyone finds some sort of red, white, and blue outfit to sport while sitting in traffic on the way to some ideal destination for fireworks viewing. The smell of barbecue fills the air while some drunk uncle burns the hot dogs on the grill…
BOS Chair Paul Teixeira dead at 57
San Luis Obispo County is in mourning and the American flag in front of the county building is being flown at half-staff following the announcement that Board of Supervisors Chair and District Four Supervisor Paul Teixeira has died. Teixeira apparently died the night of June 26 after being taken to Marian Medical Center in Santa…
Cougars & Mustangs
Holy. Shit. Yes, you read that right. That is how I begin this week’s seemingly insignificant smattering of 400 words, in a public newspaper for all to read. Holy. Shit. I just got back from a wonderful evening with friends and sat down to finish up this week’s piece. I stepped on Tumblr for just…
The Central Coast goes dark
A June 23 equipment failure at a Morro Bay switchyard at around 9:15 p.m. caused power outages for nearly 150,000 Central Coast Pacific Gas & Electric customers. Some Morro Bay residents reported seeing an arc of electricity surge over equipment at the substation, a utility spokesman said. “We have reports of a flash-arc,” Pacific Gas…
‘Calculational garbage’
Did Pacific Gas & Electric sidestep what some people consider to be critical seismic requirements for Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant following the discovery of the Shoreline Fault? Whether that’s even a valid question to raise depends on to whom you’re talking. The U.S. Geological Survey’s 2008 Shoreline discovery prompted PG&E to quickly assess whether…
Chamisal 2010 Pinot Noir Edna Valley
Although 2010 was a very cool vintage for Edna Valley, followed by a heat wave around harvest, this wine is aging impressively. Winemaker Fintan du Fresne aged the wine in 41 percent new French oak for seven months, then blended his best lots of pinot and barrel aged it another seven months. The oak is…
Good, cheap, and plentiful
Why have kale chips become so popular? I know the idea sounds deliciously natural, and so much healthier than calorie-laden potato chips, yet I’ve never bitten into a kale chip I could respect. At the new casual café Eatz by Dezign, dreamer that I am, I thought maybe I’d find the one crispy green chip…
Vina Robles tests the waters
It’s Saturday, June 22, and my pal Paul Irving of Zongo All-Stars has hooked me up with four tickets to the soft opening of Vina Robles Amphitheatre … seventh row center! You rock, Paul. We pull onto the road off Highway 46 and follow the cones and copious numbers of traffic safety directors,…
CLUBS – 6/27-7/4
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Get Dirty!
Magazine Dirty plays dirty, filthy, disgusting punk’n’roll. They’re noisy. They’re abrasive. They’re raw. They’re everything rock’n’roll was before professional “producers,” commercial pandering, and, most recently, auto-tuning took rock out of the garage, out of the shadows, and into shiny, happy pop culture. Well, fuck that. Magazine Dirty would rather piss on shiny, happy pop culture,…
Douse the wood smoke
Smoking banned at Starbucks and 4 Other Surprising Places” was the headline on a popular website Perhaps most surprising was the ban enacted by a city in Southern California that prohibits smoking on outdoor patios or balconies, unless “those patios were enclosed and could be completely shut off from the outdoors.” Some bans go down…
Are we the last living souls?
It’s not every day you encounter a screenwriter with a Ph.D. in robotics from Stanford. But Louis Rosenberg, a former professor of mechanical engineering at Cal Poly, is something of a different breed. Rosenberg became interested in the world of fiction after inventing the 3D digitizer technology used by Dreamworks in the creation of several…
The Clark Center announces its new season!
Well, here in Artifacts, I’ve already told you about the SLO Little Theatre’s and Performing Arts Center’s upcoming 2013-2014 seasons. So I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the Clark Center, who just announced their upcoming fall/winter lineup. Located in Arroyo Grande, the Clark Center has become known for its musical acts (with emphasis on…
The immortal Ninth
There’s something in the experience of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony that leaves the listener almost naked, as if this particular piece of music had cut straight through everyday banalities into something human and vulnerable and universal. The final movement’s chorus alone is so rapturous that one is almost embarrassed by its beauty, its power to engulf…
Swale job
The complicated, jargon-laden way to describe bioswales, one of the latest trends in low-impact urban design, is this: They use simulated hydrogeology and restorative vegetation to filter out stormwater pollution. More simply put, the system operates by keeping water in a sloped bit of ground as long as possible while the plants do their work.…
Clarification
A recent story about the first phase of the Nipomo pipeline project (“Nipomo pipeline survives injunction attempt,” June 13) understated the total cost of all project phases. While the cost of the pipeline as split into phases remains unknown, District General Manager Michael LeBrun estimated that it would likely exceed $30 million. The first phase,…
From McKinney to Rickard in Atascadero
Sparks flew at the June 25 meeting of the Atascadero City Council, but, as expected, the council still unanimously named Rachelle Rickard the new city manager. Despite the pointed protestations of former Atascadero mayor and councilmember Mike Brennler—who spoke three separate times during public comment—Rickard was selected for the position after the entirety of the…
Biz owners show support for PG&E
Pacific Gas & Electric is asking its state regulator to allow the company to raise utility rates by some 8 percent in 2014 in order to invest in infrastructure and other cost recovery associated with complying with government regulations. The request is for an additional $1.2 billion in charges, effective Jan. 1, 2014. For the…
Regulatory meltdown
Three weeks ago, my great-grandmother kicked me out of her house with only six months’ notice and $200 to help me get on my feet. I wouldn’t care—I’m so accustomed to sleeping at my desk during work hours, I don’t think I’d mind doing it at night—except that the old biddy is also withholding her…
Colors for the season
According to Mother Nature’s summer plan, the designated color for the arid North County is gold. But we see acres of green everywhere. Takes lots of blue water to turn gold into green. No one should be surprised when she packs up her lovely blue water and disappears. — Maria Lorca – Creston
Bring in leaders who think water
I was surprised—pleasantly—at the expose the Tribune did on our water problems (“Wine and Water”). Better late than never. It was interesting to read how some local politicians claim now that they did not know that the water shortage was coming, that they made a mistake. They remind me of the government economists who said…
Watch your mouth
Thank you, New Times, for writing such a comprehensive piece about your experience walking the San Luis Creek (“Going gonzo in trout country,” June 6). It provided a much needed look at a vital creek and its watershed on the Central Coast. We at Surfrider have been monitoring the water quality of the San Luis…
Think of cats of all sizes
Thanks to Patrick M. Klemz for highlighting the importance of A.B. 1213, the Bobcat Protection Act (Bloom, D-50), that would enact measures to protect bobcats from cruel trapping (“California may limit bobcat trapping,” June 20). This legislation is crucial because animals caught in barbaric traps suffer immensely from their injuries, endure long periods of distress,…
On dying squirrels and low voter turnout
I would summarize Mr. Lukes’ recent opinion piece as “I have encountered a problem that I care about. But the problem is too big for me to solve all by myself. Why hasn’t someone else solved this problem?” (“How do I help an ailing animal?,” June 20). While I don’t share his concern for dying…
Sweet moves
Walk the streets of downtown San Luis Obispo on a late Thursday, Friday, or Saturday night, and you’ll certainly learn one thing if you haven’t already: SLO loves its downtown scene. But if you’re not of the legal drinking age, you may find yourself disappointed at the limited options available to you—until now. Eye Candy…
Which of the Supreme Court decisions do you care most about?
Yevette and Cindy Rubalcava declined to state “Prop. 8, gay marriage equality.” Rachel Stochl student “Gay marriage. It’s an interesting issue, something we’ve been discussing in class, and it affects everyone.” Taylor Nesheim student “[The] student loans one. It’s interesting because it’ll help the students who are in the middle and can’t pay everything up…
Can’t hurry love
California’s same-sex couples can soon marry again, with equal rights and responsibilities under federal law, after the U.S. Supreme Court released a pair of highly anticipated June 26 opinions. The court published its opinion in the Proposition 8 case, Hollingsworth v. Perry, about 30 minutes after striking a section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage…
Moriarty denied bail
A former Grover Beach financial investment advisor suspected of pilfering millions of dollars from his clients and charged with fraud and embezzlement will spend the foreseeable future in jail, after a judge denied his request to reduce his bail. On June 12, San Luis Obispo County Superior Court Judge Jacqueline Duffy ruled that bail for…
Bay will consider new proposals for aquarium
With increased attention on the future of the Morro Bay Aquarium, a majority of the Morro Bay City Council voted to begin accepting new proposals for facility redesigns and upgrades. In a 3-2 decision on June 25, Morro Bay Mayor Jamie Irons joined council members Christine Johnson and Noah Smukler in asking city…
TRAGEDY
A small, twin-engine plane crashed near the San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport, just feet away from a building housing Promega Biosciences, a biomedical lab, prompting evacuations of the block on South Higuera Street. Cal Fire confirmed that one person—the pilot—died in the accident, though officials hadn’t released the identity as of press time. Initial…
