Cover Story
The proposed Hearst San Simeon State Park campground is just the start of developing low-cost accommodations on the coast
The smell came first: wind-borne wafts of rotting fish rising up from the ocean. Then, the sound: barks ricocheting off the salty bluffs. Finally, they’re within sight: a handful of heads poking out of Arroyo del Corral Creek. Overstuffed marine mammals lining the beach, silvery-bronze skin shining in the noonday sun. All that separates the…
A date with delicious
All the oils: Whether you prefer to drizzle, dash, or pour it on thick, the Paso Robles Olive Festival is ready to drench your tastebuds this May 5, featuring all kinds of olive products for sipping, spreading, and cooking possibilities in Paso Robles Downtown City Park (learn more at pasoroblesdowntown.org) … Aloha! The BarrelHouse Brewing…
Pay attention, get involved
A local political watchdog, Otis Page, left this earth with little fanfare last month. Although Otis and I shared very few national policy positions, I always respected him for one thing. He constantly urged citizens to get involved and pay attention to the governance they were subjected to. He was a pioneer of the public…
The last stand
To hear conservatives tell it, California is under attack! It’s an all-out invasion, people! The sky is falling, and it’s raining little brown drug dealers, criminals, and rapists! In two marathon meetings on April 17 and May 1, conservative Paso Robles residents took turns telling their City Council that illegal immigrants are a huge threat…
SLO County hires new Health Agency director
After its former director resigned following a series of inmate deaths at the SLO County Jail, the SLO County Health Agency has found a replacement. The SLO County Board of Supervisors voted on May 2 to approve Richard “Michael” Hill as the county’s new Health Agency director. Hill will officially start his new job on…
Defending freedoms?
Local Republican and regular New Times contributor Al Fonzi likes to present himself as a defender of our freedoms, but from all of his opinion pieces that I have read, I see just the opposite. First, he primarily focuses on protecting aspects of certain freedoms, which are used by some to restrict or deny the…
Social media sound off
New Times readers took to Facebook to share their thoughts about our April 26 story, “Paso may join suit against state ‘sanctuary’ law.”
Local campaign war chests top $1.5 million
If you are looking to get elected to office in SLO County this June, it’s going to cost you. A lot. Recently released campaign finance reports showed that candidates in races for county-level offices in the June 5 primary raised a combined total of more than $1.5 million in the first four months of 2018.…
Compton listens
This is an election season has that has been a bit hard to understand since we have experienced firsthand support from our San Luis Obispo County 4th District Supervisor Lynn Compton. We need to do everything we can to procure and save our water resources, so as to make them available to all of us…
Local love
That’s good: Slow Money SLO, which provides education, promotion, and guidance to small food- and beverage- related businesses in an effort to create a thriving local food economy, is sharpening its focus. The nonprofit’s new spotlight series will bring the limelight to one rotating local business. This May 8, tour SLO’s own Whalebird Kombucha brewery,…
Arroyo Grande mulls tough decisions, including staff cuts, to make up expected budget gap
John Mershon has been working on and off for the Arroyo Grande Police Department in various capacities since the late 1970s. Currently, he works as the department’s full-time property and evidence technician. On April 24, the 68-year-old Mershon stood before the dais at an Arroyo Grande City Council meeting and asked its members not to…
At the point of a gun
As I stated last month, despite state gun laws that help protect victims of domestic violence, last year, Ron Rawlinson of Grover Beach murdered Dana Neece with a 9 mm handgun. Though California has made strides in trying to protect victims of domestic violence, legal and procedural gaps continue to put victims at mortal risk.…
Red-handed giving
How often do you consider the human being who planted your lettuce, harvested your strawberries, or processed those olives into the oil you use to sauté dinner every night? It’s important to remember that behind every great meal or bottle of wine, there are usually two pairs of weather-beaten hands doing the heavy lifting, sowing,…
Bill to fund Diablo worker retention program is critical for decommission, PG&E and state reps say
Sacramento native Garrick Worrell accepted his first job out of college in 2016 with PG&E as a systems engineer at the Diablo Canyon Power Plant. Then, just two weeks before his start date, PG&E announced a bombshell decision that would leave him and the roughly 1,500 other employees at the plant in a predicament: Diablo…
Melodrama gets “Less Miserable” in new production
Look down Less Miserable runs through June 10 at the Great American Melodrama, 1863 Front St., Oceano. For more information, call (805) 489-2499. When I first announced to colleagues that I was seeing a production of Less Miserable over the weekend, there was an audible gasp of horror. How could I, a purported theater geek,…
Paso calls sanctuary law ‘flawed,’ but won’t join suit against it
The Paso Robles City Council voted unanimously on May 1 to take no official position on Senate Bill 54—the so-called “sanctuary” state law regulating local authorities’ communication with federal immigration agents—following an emotional four-hour discussion. Dozens of local residents—farmers, doctors, accountants, high school teachers and students, law enforcement retirees, activists, and even a gubernatorial candidate—voiced…
Opening Minds art show addresses mental health struggles
In your head The Opening Minds art show will be on display in the Atrium Gallery at Studios on the Park in Paso Robles through May 27. An opening reception will also be held May 5 from 6 to 9 p.m. during Art After Dark, and the studio will screen the documentary CRAZYWISE on May…
Fracking initiative gets 20,000 signatures
A conga line marched a box of voter signatures into the San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder’s Office on May 1. After almost nine weeks of work, the Coalition to Protect San Luis Obispo County had collected more than 20,000 signatures on its initiative to ban fracking and new oil wells in the county—but allow current…
‘It Can’t Happen Here’ on stage at Cuesta
It was a tumultuous time in America. Nope, we’re not talking about the dumpster fire that was 2016. We’re talking about 1935 and the play It Can’t Happen Here, showing at Cuesta College May 4 to 13. Presidential candidate Buzz Windrip promises change, but once elected, his fascist tendencies shine through, leading to chaos and…
SLO County Jail can now forcibly medicate some mentally ill inmates
The SLO County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on May 1 to allow the SLO County Jail to provide medication to inmates found mentally incompetent to stand trial, even if those inmates refuse the medication. Jail officials believe that the measure will help prevent mentally ill inmates’ conditions from worsening while they wait for transfer…
‘Lean on Pete’ delivers a challenging coming of age story about a boy forced to grow up too fast
LEAN ON PETE What’s it rated? RWhat’s it worth, Anna? MatineeWhat’s it worth, Glen? Full priceWhere’s it showing? The Palm Writer-director Andrew Haigh (45 Years) helms this story based on Willy Vlautin’s novel about a teenager named Charlie (Charlie Plummer) who takes a summer job working for Del (Steve Buscemi), a horse trainer. When aging…
Paso negotiating with state over former youth prison
The city of Paso Robles is negotiating with the state to acquire property with a shuttered juvenile prison, property it hopes to transform into a multi-use campus with homeless services and other projects. Public Works Director Dick McKinley confirmed that the city and state are in active talks on a sale of the Estrella Juvenile…
SLOMA screens ‘Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict’
Step into the life of a colorful character who was not only ahead of her time, but helped define it at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art’s viewing of Peggy Guggenheim: Art Addict on May 21. The museum’s monthly movie night kicks off at 7 p.m. The film tells the story of Guggenheim, an…
Yiannopoulos’ Cal Poly return sparks alternative student events
Cal Poly’s University Union is usually buzzing with students weekdays, but April 26 was the exception. It was the second time that Cal Poly Republicans hosted controversial “alt-right” activist Milo Yiannopoulos. The Cal Poly Republicans and Cal Poly’s Turning Point USA chapter hosted a “fake news panel” in the Mott Athletic Center (across from the…
DIY monogrammed wood pallet workshop
Relax and let the creative vibes flow at the Wood Pallet Paint Party at 15 Degrees C Wine Shop and Bar in Templeton on May 12. The event is hosted by Art Social 805 and led by artist Karyn Blaney from noon to 2 p.m. Attendees will be guided through the process of painting a…
Get on the Bus helps families visit loved ones incarcerated at CMCFast fact
Around 1:30 a.m., children and a parent or guardian get on a school bus in places like Oakland or San Diego to travel to the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. Tired-eyed kids wear purple shirts inscribed with “On the Bus” and an outline of the front of a bus. Although most can hardly…
Blast from the Past: Liquid Sky
When? 1982 What’s it rated? R Where? DVD, Blu-ray Co-writer/director Slava Tsukerman (Poor Liza, Perestroika) directs this sci-fi cult classic about invisible aliens who come to Earth in their tiny flying saucer to find heroin, only to discover that pheromones created by the human brain during orgasm are even better. The film stars Anne Carlisle…
Film Listings 5/3/18 – 5/10/18
AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR What’s it rated? PG-13 What’s it worth Matinee Where’s it showing? Downtown Centre, Stadium 10, Sunset Drive-In, Bay, Park, Galaxy Pick Anthony and Joe Russo (Captain America: Civil War and Captain America: The Winter Soldier) direct this new Avengers installment, with a screenplay by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely. The whole freaking…
Parkfield hosts its 20th annual bluegrass festival May 10-13
Ready for some pickin’ and grinnin’? How about some campin’ and dancin’ and eatin’ and laughin’? The 20th annual Parkfield Bluegrass Festival—scheduled for next Thursday, May 11, through Sunday, May 13—offers all that and a whole lot more (tickets and festival schedule at parkfieldbluegrass.org). Held every Mother’s Day weekend in Parkfield (the so-called “earthquake capital…
Ending the bondage of bail
State Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham’s (R-San Luis Obispo) recent letter to the New Times (“We need a bail system,” April 12) indicates that he is about to vote no again on the issue of reforming our unfair and prejudicial for-profit cash bail system. Reform of this antiquated, prejudicial, two-tiered system is a matter of great concern…
Wine, Waves, and Beyond hits Pismo May 4-6
Gnarly grub! Learn more about Wine, Waves, and Beyond and view a schedule of daily events at winewavesandbeyond.com. Like seagulls scanning the sand for tasty worms and mollusks, the surfers flock to the coast. The sun is barely up, each crashing wave delivering a salty chill that lingers in the air. This is what feeds…
What free speech protects
In Daniel Pfau’s opinion piece (“Trigger warning,” April 19), he seems to confuse actions with speech. Paraphrasing comments attributed to Voltaire: I find what you say deplorable, but I will defend to my death your right to say it. Does Mr. Pfau believe that the First Amendment to the U. S. Constitution is only to…
Brewed for your pleasure
How ’bout these apples: The Central Coast Cider Festival will splash into Atascadero’s Lake Park this May 12, featuring crisp, bubbly, and hopped ciders from all across the region, plus food and live entertainment by The Turkey Buzzards. Learn more at centralcoastciderfestival.com … A beer lover’s road trip: Designate a sober driver and get your…
Andrew Holland death cover-up
I have just watched the video that the Holland Family put together chronicling Andrew Holland’s life and death in the SLO County Jail. It is wrenching to watch how a human being was treated by so many so-called “professionals.” It would be illegal to treat an animal this way. Yes, it is painful to watch,…
