Cover Story
New Times Best of SLO County 2014: 28th Annual Readers Poll
Foe. Rival. Nemesis. Enemy. Call them what you will, but we’ve all got them, to one extent or another. It might be the guy at work who always steals your lunch, the detective who rats you out to Scotland Yard, the jock who mocks you for playing Magic: The Gathering, or the news…
Dan Dow walks 2 miles
In last week’s cover story on the extremely low prosecution rate for sexual assault in San Luis Obispo County (“Life after rape,” May 8), Tim Covello offered a number of recommendations to improve the situation. One was to provide cross-training regularly with organizations such as RISE, which provide advocacy services for victims. This is an…
Oceano CSD hires Paavo Ogren
In a move that’s sent shockwaves through San Luis Obispo County’s local government community, county Public Works Director Paavo Ogren is leaving his prominent county job to captain the comparatively tiny and troubled Oceano Community Services District. After roughly three hours of public comment and board discussion at their May 14 meeting, the OCSD Board…
What is the best thing about SLO County?
Heather MacFarlane I.T. “I like all the running trails.” Jude Onochie sales rep. for hire “Friendliness of the people. The second is the climatic condition.” Miriam Campos student “The weather, and how it’s calm and busy at the same time. It’s a beautiful town.” Damian Camacho Pettis’ right hand “Its geographic proximity to San Francisco…
The SLO Jazz Festival takes over Mission Plaza on May 17th!
Jazz is in the air, and this week promises an unforgettable set of shows for fans of this most American of art forms. First the bad news. If you’d hoped to see Bill Frisell this Thursday, May 15, at the Monday Club and you don’t yet have a ticket, you’re too late. The show sold…
It’s a merry month of May SLO County art roundup!
Feeling a mid-May malaise? Unimpressed by spring after we already had summer in January? Slap on a black beret and your best judgmental expression—here’s a completely unscientific sample of SLO County art highlights for the remainder of the merry month. Opening Minds, an exhibit “in celebration of living mentally well” curated by Transitions Mental Health…
The best show you didn’t see
If you like having fun, you missed out. Hip-hop legends Slum Village and Bizarre Ride II The Pharcyde performed last Sunday, May 12, and you missed it. You missed the opener, JP the Diesel, who killed it with his new group Afraid of Heights. Had people been there to hear it, they would have danced…
The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art’s screening of ‘Craft in America: Crossroads’ explores the border-bending nature of American fine craft
It’s a little bit like painting with material,” says sculptor, designer, activist, and textile artist Tanya Aguiñiga in Crossroads, episode nine of PBS’s 12-part Craft in America series. In this episode, which screens at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art on Monday, May 19 at 7 p.m., three instances of border crossings in American…
By the people, for the people: Citizens’ Congress aims to create nationwide political change from the Central Coast
Bill Ostrander isn’t big on excuses. In the thousands of hours Ostrander and his local team of volunteers have invested in organizing a major political event—Citizens’ Congress—here in San Luis Obispo County, he’s had more than a few people offer up excuses. Some have said that it would never work in SLO County. Others have…
Gold Fever! Untold Stories of the California Gold Rush connects local history to the statewide bonanza at the Dana Adobe in Nipomo
They rode on burros, afoot, and on covered wagons. Many of these would stop at our house, ‘Casa de Dana,’ for water or to camp nearby,” recalls Juan Francisco Dana—memoirist, author of The Blonde Ranchero, and son of the Captain—in a 1933 newspaper article dictated to his son, The Days of ’49. The central location…
Clubs 5/15/14
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…
The Ontario Ridge fencing issue reignites
Though it has lain dormant for the past few months, the land-use skirmish on Ontario Ridge between local hikers and property owner Rob McCarthy recently kicked into gear again. On May 7, several local hikers told New Times that workers were busy installing new chain-link fence, barbed-wire fence, and “no admittance” signs on the ridge.…
WTF is gf?
If you’re anything like me, you’re seeing gluten free sections pop up in grocery stores and ‘gf’ indicators on menus at your favorite restaurant. The elimination of gluten is the newest craze in our culinary world even though most don’t seem to know what being gluten-free means. A recent sketch on Jimmy Kimmel’s show featured…
Edmond August 2013 Inquiry Sherry’s Rose Paso Robles and Baker & Brain 2012 Pinot Noir Central Coast
Edmond August 2013 Inquiry Sherry’s Rose Paso Robles A blend of grenache, mourvedre, and syrah, this pretty pink blend has bright notes of strawberries, raspberries, and sweet watermelon. Still, it’s remarkably dry and delicious whether on its own or with food. I’d choose it for a cheese plate with fruit and nuts, paella, pizza,…
Chardonnay, please: The Chardonnay Symposium brings educational tasting event to Dolphin Bay
Are you the type of person who walks into a bar or a restaurant and simply orders chardonnay without asking who produced it? That’s a scenario I witness constantly, yet there’s something far worse that happens more often. When dining out I frequently hear people ask their server which wines they serve by the glass…
From ink to art: Danny Derrick Tattoo is one-of-a-kind
Tucked quietly away in an unsuspecting business complex off Higuera Street, Danny Derrick’s tattoo shop is a one-of-a-kind experience. The walls are adorned with framed tattoo art—both his own and that of artists he admires. A ram’s head hangs above the front table, and a collection of art theory books fill his shelves. Derrick began…
Cougars & Mustangs
It is a bright, sunny day. The ocean glimmers radiantly and the temperature seems just right. A slow fog tiptoes in the distance across the sand, trying its best to not burn its feet. From somewhere behind a rock a short distance offshore, a delicate strain of music wafts about, alluringly. That the California coast…
Current repopulation efforts are helping the tule elk population jump by leaps and bounds
Ask a Californian what comes to mind when you say “Central Valley,” and most will probably give you an answer that includes farms, orchards, farms, an occasional feedlot, and more farms. You may also get something about air conditioners, or high-speed rail, or oil. What you likely won’t hear is a mention of wildlife and…
Supervisors approve appointees to Paso Robles Groundwater Basin Advisory Committee
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again. That was the tune carried by the San Luis Obispo County supervisors on May 13 as they placed another piece in the Paso Robles Groundwater Basin puzzle, approving a list of 26 appointees to the new Paso Robles Groundwater Advisory Committee. The committee, which will have…
Save the Park asks to drop three charges over a project at Cerrito Peak
More than two years after filing a lawsuit against Morro Bay and Dan Reddell over his single-family residential project on Cerrito Peak, the group Save the Park has filed to dismiss three of its 11 causes of action. “All the players and the city attorney, everybody’s flipped over,” Betty Winholtz, a director of the Save…
Bull’s Tavern, San Luis Obispo’s historic dive bar, is planning to move
With nearly a century of history behind it, one of San Luis Obispo’s oldest and most iconic bars is preparing for a move. Bull’s Tavern, founded in the 1930s and situated in the heart of downtown SLO, is asking to relocate roughly three blocks from its existing location on Chorro Street between Marsh and Monterey.…
Sheriff’s Department concludes no criminal wrongdoing in the death of 25 sheep
The investigation into circumstances surrounding the death of 25 sheep during a storm in late February has been officially concluded. The San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s Department—after a high-profile 10-week investigation subject to rumors and public scrutiny—announced May 9 that no criminal wrongdoing was found, and, after conferring with the District Attorney’s Office, no charges…
Seriously
All right, San Luis Obispo County. It’s time for a serious talk. According to last week’s cover story—“The Silenced: Sexual assaults rarely result in convictions, and victims know it”—people living in this county are, statistically speaking, more likely to report being raped than robbed. No, I’m not joking. Yes, I wish I were—even if that…
Make it fair (or unfair) for everyone
As a concerned and caring individual, I would like to propose a solution to the Paso groundwater problem. First, I would like to say that while both sides have made valid points, the one person, one vote and the 1 acre, one vote positions both seem a little extreme. If a compromise can be reached…
This is not how I think a democracy works
I see that there are some among us who agree with the Citizens United decision by the Supreme Court that money is speech and money can, and should, talk. Sue Luft and Jerry Reaugh maintain that “those who will pay the most should have a say in the governance of the district commensurate with their…
Age isn’t just a number
I don’t know Dan Carpenter. Dan Carpenter is not a friend of mine. In fact, I don’t live in the city of San Luis Obispo. But I agree with and support what Dan Carpenter had to say (“Prohibition is over,” May 8) about the views of the mayor, Cal Poly’s vice president, and the nanny state.…
Feminists will spin their statistics
The thrust of “Life after rape” (May 8) is predicated on the dubious assumption that females never lie and, if handed a weapon, will never use it except for the purest of motives—and, therefore, when males are accused of assault, we can throw out constitutional guarantees of due process and the presumption of innocence. This…
District attorney candidates don’t offer solutions
Your article “Life after rape” by Colin Rigley (May 8) points out how in a population of 276,443 persons in San Luis Obispo County, with approximately 135,181 residents being female, 17,573 to 24,333 (12 percent to 18 percent, according to your article) are statistically at risk of being raped. Again, referring to your article, 34.4…
