Cover Story
Office politics: How the race for district attorney solidified schisms within the office
A Monday in April began much like any other for San Luis Obispo County District Attorney Gerry Shea. He arrived at work and put in his regular morning appearance. But later that day—and unbeknownst to much of his staff—Shea left and began the 200-mile journey to ask officials from the California Office of the Attorney…
Comfort Market: A little comfort in the middle of Arroyo Grande village
Kari Ziegler’s dream is to have lunch with some famous chef, and to make her dream come true, she went into the food industry. Because “great chefs get to eat with each other, right?” Six years ago, this self-taught cook—also a wine lover who’s in love with a winemaker—dropped her 17-year career as a…
Third inmate found dead in county jail in less than six months
An inmate died while in custody at the San Luis Obispo County Jail, the third such incident so far this year. According to a Sheriff’s Department press release, Timothy Richard Janowicz, a transient, was found unresponsive in his bunk at approximately 5:40 a.m. on May 30. He was booked into jail on Nov. 20, 2013,…
Big bucks pile up in the District 4 race
As the candidates for the District 4 seat on the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors hurtle toward the June 3 primary, campaign finance reports show that they’ve racked up an unprecedented amount of campaign contributions. Between Republican agricultural businesswoman Lynn Compton, Democrat real estate broker Mike Byrd, and Democrat educator/current District 4 Supervisor…
If you could wake up anywhere tomorrow morning, where would it be and why?
Lauren Uba student “The Tate Modern in London. It’s my favorite art museum. It’s been my dream to go back.” Hannah Johnson student “Italy. I’ve always wanted to visit there after learning about it in school.” Hamzah Ramadan student “Zanzibar in East Africa. I volunteered there is 2012. It’s the greatest place on Earth.” Cyndy…
JD McPherson will make the June 13 to 15 Live Oak Music Festival even better than usual!
JD McPherson’s debut album, Signs & Signifiers, has been in heavy rotation on my home stereo system for more than a year now, so when I heard he was playing at the Live Oak Music Festival (June 13 to 15) on Saturday, June 14, I just about wet myself. The roots rocker’s album is filled…
Pioneering Broadway dance-musical ‘A Chorus Line’ hits the SLO Little Theatre stage
San Luis Obispo is experiencing a bumper crop of landmark musical revivals this season, beginning with a collaborative production of Show Boat helmed by Opera San Luis Obispo, and continuing with SLO Little Theatre’s staging of A Chorus Line. This very meta dance-musical may be solidly in the canon now, but when it debuted off-Broadway…
No clowning around: A dispatch from rodeo clown school
It was a puzzling moment when the captain of our editorial team, Managing Editor and Lead Cat Herder Ashley Schwellenbach, dispatched me to attend Rodeo Clown U at the Santa Maria Elks Lodge. I wasn’t sure how to take it—did she think that I really belonged in a ring, wearing face paint and colorful clothes,…
The Academy of Dance, SLO, presents its yearly showcase featuring the San Luis Jazz Dancers
“I can take any empty space and call it a bare stage. A man walks across this empty space whilst someone else is watching him, and this is all that is needed for an act of theatre to be engaged.” This is how the great stage director Peter Brook opens his treatise on performance, The…
Hear the sculptures, see the sounds: Jarred Pfeiffer and Menthe Wells transform raw materials into Synergy
“What happens when you combine a ceramic artist sculpting the mathematical principles of the Pythagorean theorem and fractals with a painter and sculptor whose work is rooted in synesthesia, a neuropsychological experience in which sounds are seen and words and aromas have color?” asks curator Ruta Saliklis in her statement at the entrance to SLOMA’s…
Clubs 5/29/14
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…
We all scream for …
The weather is heating up again, and with the warmth the desire for hearty meals subsides and is often replaced with a craving for snacks like cold fruit and sweet iced tea. Cereal replaces oatmeal, and lunch and dinner become salads and sandwiches because it’s just too hot to cook anything. But nothing beats the…
Let me eat pancakes!: One man’s SLO pancake vision quest
My mother often made pancakes on Saturday mornings. They were dollar sized and featured whole wheat flour, soured milk (milk with vinegar), eggs, baking powder, brown sugar, and melted butter added to the batter. The deal was if I ate so many of these plain pancakes I could have some with chocolate chips—mini chips worked…
Cougars & Mustangs
Cal Poly students are gearing up for finals, and Cuesta-goers have already escaped them. The latter group contains many students already hailing from the Central Coast, but does not consist exclusively of them, as good education can draw in populace from far and wide, especially when some unique programs are being offered. All the same,…
A major tassel: Local students cap their time at Cuesta
We don’t cover much in the way of pomp and circumstance in this paper, but we felt that this week, we could all use a reminder of the good and the progress there is in this world. Join us in celebrating the 724 students who graduated from Cuesta College; 180 of them walked in the…
San Luis Obispo Planning Commissioners are scheduled to review remediation plans for the Tank Farm property
If all goes as planned, San Luis Obispo city officials will soon begin on-the-ground work toward the long-planned efforts to revitalize the desolate patch of land known as the San Luis Obispo Tank Farm—but they’ll deal with the money later. On May 28, as New Times was going to press, SLO planning commissioners were scheduled…
Two south county oil drilling projects are scheduled for separate reviews
Two oil projects proposed in the Huasna Valley will pass major milestones within the same week, setting the course for drilling operations in the South County. The Second Appellate District court of California is scheduled to hold a hearing May 30 on a case brought by Excelaron, a company that unsuccessfully proposed to drill as…
UCSB responds to the deaths of six students
Flags at all University of California campuses are sitting at half-staff until Sunday, June 1, to mourn the loss of six UC Santa Barbara students murdered in Isla Vista on May 23. “Our UCSB family is in mourning,” Chancellor Henry Yang wrote in a letter to the campus community on May 24. “We grieve for…
Has Oceano gone crazy?
Am I going crazy, or is the government just out of control? The Oceano Community Services District just hired Paavo Ogren, who just left the County Department of Public Works. This is the same Paavo Ogren who was in charge when Oceano was flooded a few years ago. The same Paavo who ignored calls days…
Try spending less
We need more taxes for this, we need more taxes for that, more taxes … more taxes … ad nauseam. My mailbox has been bombarded. Did you folks ever consider spending less? We already have way too much government. The only way to reduce its size is by defunding it. Vote “no” on any and…
Dow made his own mud
Tim Covello, a candidate for SLO County district attorney, correctly believes that it is unethical for his opponent Dan Dow to have taken a campaign donation from the defense attorney of a person he is prosecuting. Mr. Dow admits that he took the money but (to my astonishment) sees nothing wrong in doing so. Instead,…
Your vote counts
We have big issues to tackle in Arroyo Grande, Nipomo, and Oceano: Oceano Dunes pollution, Phillips 66 rail car proposal, water issues, farmers spraying with toxic chemicals, health and safety, and many more difficult situations. Elect Caren Ray for District 4 supervisor to serve our communities. Caren Ray is the most qualified candidate with the…
Lynn Compton will bring needed balance
I want a balanced county government. How can that happen if Caren Ray is elected to the Board of Supervisors? Caren Ray was Adam Hill’s personal choice to fill the seat, making a three-way majority on the board, allowing them to sculpture the county in Adam Hill’s, Bruce Gibson’s, and Caren Ray’s vision of what…
Our climate is bad and getting worse
Heidi Harmon really put her finger on the uphill battle we’re having against global warming (“Climate crisis has no party affiliation,” May 22). It’s been framed as a liberal vs. conservative issue. Unfortunately, we have a primarily two-party system in which our various objectives must find their expression in the representative of one party or…
Something is broken
No editorial team wants to arrive at the office after a three-day weekend and have a discussion about how to write about a tragedy that robbed seven young adults of their lives. Whatever we decide, there’s no winning in this situation, there’s no feeling good about our decisions, or about the world we live in,…
