Cover Story
A new board
A third race, for the 5th District, remained tight as of press time, but with incumbent Jim Patterson ahead by 240 votes it appeared that the board would not only have new faces but a new direction, with at least three of the five supervisors dedicated to smart-growth principles. If the vote tally wasn’t official,…
NewTimes staff wins awards
The national Association of Alternative Weeklies has awarded New Times executive editor Ryan Miller third place for Art Feature writing for 2007 among member newspapers with circulations under 55,000. More than 100 newspapers from around the country submitted at total of more than 1,400 entries for the contest, which culminated at the association’s annual conference…
Good Eats Everywhere!
Whenever I eat a great dish of pasta in one of our local Italian restaurants it’s like soul food for me; it satisfies my stomach and my heart at the same time. That’s why I have a hard time resisting the hearty plate of linguine studded with baby clams and crowned with glistening baby clams…
Question? What is the last song you had stuck in your head?
Gary Podesto Cook “Everyone deserves music by Spearhead.” Caitlin Stouffer Concierge “Realize by Colbie Callet.” Jerry Sullivan Retired Teacher “Someone to Watch Over Me by Frank Sinatra.” Lara Bertaina Environmental Planner “Cat Scratch Fever by Ted Nugent.”
Armageddon comes to Pozo on Friday the 13th!
Before there was Kid Rock, there was another crazy Detroit rocker, a guy who wholly embodied the gritty Americana rowdiness of the Midwest. That’s right, people, I’m talking about the original Motor City Madman, Ted Nugent. Sure, he’s become better known as a weird rightwing nut, a pro-gun, pro-hunting, “I kill everything I eat and…
Congress will destroy our nation
Today, people are blaming the oil companies for high gas prices. We are awash in oil, but the U.S. Congress refuses to allow drilling in the huge tracts offshore and in Alaska. Congress is the culprit, not the oil companies! There is nothing in the U.S. Constitution that authorizes Congress to meddle in our marvelous…
Get it right about gaming, dude
I’d like to address some discrepancies and some misleading statements you made in the article “What’s in a game?” (May 22). First, the Asian people (are you really a closet racist?) you say work in the “sweatshops” who toil away to acquire game gold to be sold for real money would require computers with pretty…
SLO Art Center should think beautiful
I read a recent article regarding the architecture of the new SLO Art Center. I think this building should be as interesting outside as it is inside. We have a chance to excite potential art enthusiasts and further the cultural atmosphere in San Luis Obispo. This building could stand as an inviting “sculpture” in downtown…
Reverse psychology: What’s in a name?
I have contended for a long time that things are named for what they are not. This is why developers will name a street of a new subdivision where there are no trees “Shady Lane,” and this is why the street on the other side of the hill from the lake is named “Lakeview Way.”…
We are under their thumbs
Mr. DeVaul is fighting a losing battle, the battle against bureaucratic control of property rights. Whatever happened to his Fifth Amendment rights? To our founding Fathers, property rights were every bit as important to a healthy and free society as the “freedom of speech” clause in the First Amendment. Without property rights, our civil rights…
Don’t lump Cambria into the North County
Ed. note: The survey that Kathy Johnston reported on in “Our local looking-glass” (May 29)—commissioned by local government agencies, not New Times—put Cambria on the North Coast, a separate category from North County. I wish your paper would stop doing surveys and dividing the results into North County and South County. The opinions that you…
Your survey article was enlightening
Many thanks to the SLO County Air Pollution Control District, SLO Council of Governments, and New Times for the excellent article, “Our local looking-glass” (May 29). For those of us in North County who (like the rest of the county) recognize the threat of climate change and the impact of carbon footprints, and support smart-growth…
Bake sales won’t compensate for a cut-only approach
As a parent of a kindergartner at San Gabriel Elementary School in Atascadero, I am extremely disappointed that the governor’s revised budget continues to make billions in cuts to schools and students. How are schools supposed to continue doing “more with less”? Because this is our first child in the public school system, I was…
Citizens should work to protect marriage
In overturning Proposition 22, that marriage is only between a man and a woman, the California Supreme Court has discriminated against religious people who hold the marriage sacrament to be holy practice that sanctifies sexual intercourse between a man and woman. Judeo-Christian ethics and religious practice sustain the moral judgment that promiscuous sexual intercourse is…
Control freaks need to get over the marriage issue
Gay marriage? What business is it of the public to dictate private relationships? How can someone else’s gay marriage possibly influence a straight marriage? It is time the control freaks get over it. Gays are people, too, like “blacks,” Latinos, and former “property”—now called women with equal rights and status.
Horses might take offense to your comment
Shame on you, Sarah Christie, for your unkind comparison of horses and developers (“So just who is Planning Commissioner Christie?” May 22)! Developers as a group are loutish, litigious, amoral brutes with no regard for the law or the environment. How dare you compare them with horses? And as a horse trainer, you know horses…
The D.A. and Dan DeVaul
You can’t help but love working for a man who regularly starts sentences with, “I’ll bet you two bits to a dog turd … .” For the past nine months I have had the privilege of working as Project Manager at the Sunny Acres Ranch. I was three months out of Cal Poly and two…
Mark Stablein – Cal Poly senior, creator of the short film The Lost Day (Showing at the Palm, Sunday at 11 a.m.)
NEW TIMES: What made you want to make films? MARK STABLEIN: Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to make movies. There’s no film major at Cal Poly, so I’m an art and design photography major. The film started as a project for an English class that highlights a different director each quarter.…
Treana 2005 Red Paso Robles
This cuvee of Cabernet Sauvignon (70 percent) and Syrah (30 percent) isn’t your everyday wine at $52 retail, and that’s why it’s just the ticket for celebrating a special moment. Winemaker Austin Hope said his goal is to produce a Cabernet-based blend that represents Paso’s best. Upfront aromas and flavors of sweet black cherry, currants,…
Teen bards
While many high-school drama departments struggle to create performance spaces out of storage closets and unwanted classrooms, the drama students at Arroyo Grande High School routinely step onto a stage that has supported first-class entertainers from around the world. The prestige and professionalism the Clark Center lends to the high school’s productions is part of…
Fast facts
Cal Poly senior Mark Stablein made a short film that will be playing at the Palm Theatre. A senior Art and Design Photography major, Stablein describes his 12-minute short, The Lost Day, as “a psychological mystery thriller heavily inspired by the films of David Lynch.” Stablein’s project began in Professor Douglas Keesey’s Film Directors class…
Green on green
Believe it or not, making money isn’t always just about money, at least it isn’t for Blue Marble Investments LLC. This SLO investment firm, tucked away from the hubbub of the rest of world, is dedicated to making socially responsible investments that not only bring high returns but also give your conscience a boost. “The…
Exciting and new
Bored of supervisors? Not anymore! Barack Obama’s winds of change blew all the way from St. Paul, Minn., and brought a whiff of the Mississippi River with them. And the Mississippi River smells like change. And change smells like Frank Mecham, and Adam Hill, the two fresh faces we’ll see shining on the Board of…
Sierra Club requests investigation
Local Sierra Club leader Andrew Christie is asking for a county investigation into why key phrases went missing in a county staff report, describing planning standards that apply to land at the Oceano Dunes Recreation Area. The county is currently in negotiations to sell more than 500 acres of land, sandwiched between a state-owned off-road…
Atascadero: Soon to be even bigger
The Atascadero City Council has voted to move forward with a land annexation that will increase the city’s total area by 20 percent. The historic Eagle Ranch, which sits southwest of Atascadero and spans from the city’s border to the Los Padres National Forest, will come out of protection under the open-space-preserving Williamson Act in…
SLO PD gets new wheels
In an effort to accommodate additional officers and replace several aging cruisers, the San Luis Obispo Police Department recently purchased seven new Dodge Charger patrol cars, according to Capt. Ian Parkinson. Parkinson said the total price tag of the aggressive-looking vehicles, which can reach a top speed of 140 mph and go from 0 to…
SLO mayor and council members will get higher pay
SLO’s mayor and City Council members are the latest local officials to vote themselves pay hikes. With a 3-2 vote on June 3, the council members voted to raise their pay 6 percent per year, bringing the mayor’s monthly salary to $1,272 and council members’ monthly pay to $1,060. Members Christine Mulholland and Allen Settle…
Mobile-home residents may get help
People who live in SLO County’s 40 mobile-home parks will be entitled to some assistance if their park is closed or converted to another use, the county Planning Commission has decided. Commission members voted unanimously on May 25 to pass their recommendations to the Board of Supervisors for adoption as a county ordinance. The new…
Wanted Man
Dan DeVaul, owner and operator of the Sunny Acres “clean and sober living facility” on Los Osos Valley Road outside of SLO, is being charged by the District Attorney with seven misdemeanor violations of county code. DeVaul, more than accustomed to dealing with county code officials, is not happy, to say the least, with…
Dunes dust
Whirling dust clouds rise in the air over the Nipomo Mesa in the springtime winds, kicking up concerns over the health impacts on people who breathe in the airborne particles. Local air quality officials are taking a closer look at the blowing dust to see just where it’s coming from and what can be done…
Harry Potter and the Muggle Musicians
Oakland-based Potter wrock band Knockturn Alley will be performing at Linnaea’s Café, 1110 Garden Street, June 7 at 8 p.m. Band members Christy Herron and Rebecca Pittenger—“Becky”—engaged in an e-mail interview with New Times about their approaching show. NEW TIMES What is your musical background? HERRON We both grew up in the area (Nipomo and…
