Cover Story
A new way of thinking
He wore an oversized purple dress shirt and jeans, but no coat, walking stiffly on a pair of crutches the morning of Jan. 11. Eyes wild, hair disheveled, face red from the freezing air, he approached and asked to bum a smoke. I was sitting on a low brick wall trying to stay warm in…
Weyrich’s out of the woods–for now
After five years of delinquency, David Weyrich—owner of the historic Carlton Hotel in Atascadero—paid the first installment toward an enormous property tax debt, only a month before the property would have gone to public auction on June 30. According to Lori Guidotti, redemption and payment processing manager at the SLO County Tax Collector’s Office, Weyrich…
Lending a helping horse
It’s hard to talk about certain things to even the closest of friends or family members. The most horrible of offenses or ailments people suffer with day to day—things like the loss of a family member or close friend, eating disorders, war, or rape—aren’t one-time conversations people can just have and then move on from.…
What’s your favorite barbecue food?
Mary Coniglio private vocal coach “Barbecue ribs. My mom used to make the best barbecue sauce.” Kia Blomberg Cal Poly senior “Firestone tri-tip, because I love their barbecue sauce. It tastes like candy.” Lisa Zigenis-Grant designer at Lyte Form Design Studio “My husband is a vegetarian, and so we barbecue Portobello mushrooms. It’s tasty, it’s…
Get them to the Greek
I have to confess, I know so very little about the Greek culture. Apart from the facts that my mother’s name is Athena, I love Tina Fey, and I’ve seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding 6,000 times, my knowledge of Greek culture and food is woefully small (and let’s face it, I don’t know if…
El Rancho 2012 Rosé San Luis Obispo
This wine is so elegant and lovely in style and surprisingly low in price, I bought a case. Talented winemaker Doug Margerum in Buellton described it as a classic rosé. A Rhone blend of 70 percent Grenache, 15 percent Counoise, and 15 percent Cinsault, it’s still light and dry. Pretty aromas and flavors of strawberry…
Sinor LaVallee 2011 Pinot Noir Aubaine Vineyard
Dense and rich, the Aubaine Vineyard in Arroyo Grande is just south of Laetitia Vineyards and a consistently good producer used by several notable winemakers, including Mike Sinor. Sinor has bought grapes since 2004. I enjoyed this wine’s dark fruit flavors of blackberry, black cherry, and plum, nicely nuanced with notes of spice and earth.…
Surf with American heroes
Foodie seems like such a dated term, yet I see many food lovers like me regularly using it online. And we’re all much alike in the fact that we’re constantly looking for the next epicurean experience. Unfortunately, such dining isn’t usually found at charity events where the food served is nothing worth writing home about…
Priorities
My puny hamster-that’s-fallen-off-its-wheel brain can’t handle moral ambiguity, which pretty much makes me Hollywood’s target audience. When I see a woman in a movie, I know she’s going to be the sexy sidekick who will eventually hook up with our macho hero, after showing him what she’s made of in a lazy nod toward feminism.…
Clubs: 5/30
BRANCH ST. DELI: 203 E. Branch St., Arroyo Grande, 489-9099. Live music Fri. from 5:30-8:30 p.m. THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Road, 773-5000 or cliffsresort.com. 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 Pismo Beach location every…
Maui maiden
I imagine that if your middle name were Anuheake’alaokalokelani you’d probably shorten it to, say, Anuhea, which is what the Hawaiian-born pop singer born Rylee Jenkins did. She was supposed to play SLO Brew a few months ago, but her entire tour bus got the flu and she had to cancel. Now the self-taught singer-songwriter…
Artifacts: Intra-mural
Public art can be so … pedestrian. But a new mural going up at the San Luis Obispo City/County Library seems out to defy this stereotype. It’s coming from Dominican artist Robert Maja, one of the first artists to participate in the Box Art project (you know, those painted utility boxes in downtown SLO) back…
Sommerfrische
Beer fests test human mettle. It’s a lot to ask of the body to filter several gallons of beer in just a few hours. Spending my formative years in Milwaukee gave me a paraffin-lined liver, but I still get emo after 4.2 hours of drinking. Therefore, getting through the California Festival of Beers and its…
Underwater in Atascadero
This is Atascadero. Downtown, the streets are lined with exquisite little shops, interspersed only occasionally by crusty little dives that seem to have survived the city’s makeover. From the main drag, you can see the freeway. The constant rush of cars gives the sleepy town a feeling of always being outpaced, passed by. Walking alone…
A lesson to learn
As a pro-life atheist, I strongly disagree with Paul Rinzler’s recent opinion piece “Good News, bad news” (May 23). To begin, Mr. Rinzler bases much of his opinion on a book by Katherine Stewart, but never provides any detail why Ms. Stewart’s findings are credible other than that she’s “a mom whose children went to…
New nukes
The Sierra Club “weighed in” (“Our answer: Nuclear is dangerous and unnecessary,” May 9) on nuclear energy, declaring it unnecessary; survival of the planet assured with solar, wind, and conservation to fill the void of a fossil-fuel-addicted planet. No, they didn’t say that; and I didn’t say that nuclear energy is “perfectly safe.” New age…
Events are events
Your insightful glimpse at the county’s planning process for temporary events and other land uses (“Rural fervor”, May 9, concerning Green Gate Farms) raised a perplexity: How is it that your reporter readily understood the ordinance provision exempting an event from the permit requirement only if admission is free and run by a nonprofit when…
A waterfront institution?!
In the words of Neil Farrel et al, “the Morro Bay Aquarium is a legitimate tourist attraction … an institution on the waterfront entertaining countless people” (“Save the Morro Bay Aquarium,” Bay News, May 23). I don’t know how many of you who live in the Morro Bay area have visited Dean and Bertha’s nonprofit…
Cougars & Mustangs
Particularly crafty Poly students strategically conserve and ration the remaining chocolate from care packages they receive months earlier in a festive, artistic display known as a “Dead Week Calendar”—a countdown to the end of finals with great pizzazz. This phenomenon takes its inspiration from the traditional Advent calendars of Christmas, but rather than finding little…
Bad press
Despite an announcement to the contrary by a law firm that specializes in representing police officers, one of the two San Luis Obispo officers terminated after a fateful trip to Mexico has not been reinstated to the SLO Police Department. Former patrol officer Dan McDow, 34, of Los Osos, pleaded guilty in federal court in…
Justice deferred?
A local teenager claims to have spent nearly a decade in constant fear of her step-grandfather, who abused her sexually, physically, and emotionally, she said. Though the only evidence of sexual abuse is the girl’s word and her subsequent state of mind, several witnesses are willing to testify that they observed violent incidents. Still, the…
Panga suspects arrested in Montaña de Oro
Yet another “panga”—a small skiff originating from Mexico carrying illegal drugs and sometimes people—has been found in San Luis Obispo County. This time, however, local authorities caught some suspects in the act. According to a SLO County Sheriff’s Department press release, just after midnight on May 29, deputies spotted suspicious vehicles in Los Osos traveling…
Cal Poly baseball gets a lucky draw
Selection Monday for the college baseball playoffs went about as well for Cal Poly as anyone could expect. On May 27, the Mustangs (39-17) earned a second seed in the Los Angeles regional bracket alongside host UCLA (39-17), San Diego (35-23), and San Diego State (31-29). The fortuitous placement keeps the Mustangs close to home…
Be gone, bike thieves
Figures released May 28 by the San Luis Obispo Police Department confirm what the local bicycle community suspected in recent years: Bike thefts are on the rise in SLO. According to SLOPD, residents and visitors reported 269 bikes stolen in SLO during 2012—a higher figure than recorded in each of the previous five years. That…
It was a bad week to be a suspected Paso junkie
Over the course of three days, the Paso Robles Police Department Special Enforcement Team (SET) arrested four people on heroin-related charges. On Thursday, May 23, Dylan Michael Bice, 21, and Afeek Oz Haviv, 19, were arrested by SET detectives who reported observing the two men appearing to conduct a “hand-to-hand” drug transaction in the parking…
Christianson narrows in on Brown funding after Dem mailers
Carlyn Christianson has a powerful ally in the San Luis Obispo County Democratic Party, one that’s legally able to sidestep personal campaign contribution limitations and that puts the candidate nearly neck and neck with her opponent in funding for the June SLO City Special Election. According to Pat Harris, chair of the SLO County Democratic…
Murder suspect interviewed by media, later arrested
Atascadero police made an arrest following the discovery of a body later determined to be the victim of a shooting. On May 24, officers arrested Mark Alan Andrews, 49, in connection with the shooting death of Colleen Barga-Milbury, 52, a single mother who lived across the street from Andrews. According to Atascadero Police Sgt. Gregg…
Moriarty pleads not guilty
The former Grover Beach financial consultant facing seven felonies and 19 civil suits for allegedly operating a “Ponzi-like scheme” and defrauding clients out of some $22 million is fighting the criminal charges against him. On May 29, Moriarty, 80, pleaded not guilty to the charges, which range from grand theft by embezzlement to selling securities…
Controversial Dalidio Ranch finds a potential buyer
Prominent rancher Ernie Dalidio may have found a buyer for his 131-acre property on the outskirts of the city of San Luis Obispo—but the deal’s not sealed yet. Dalidio couldn’t be reached for comment on the transaction, but Dennis Allan, of Arroyo Grande-based Allan Real Estate Investments, the broker listed for the property, confirmed to…
