Cover Story
The wrong man
It seemed like an open and shut case. A 50-year-old man was arrested for stalking two teenage girls at a deli in Templeton, and the District Attorney’s Office was going in for the kill. The Sheriff’s Department said the man was a convicted child molester, so the district attorney could boost the stalking charges from…
Who do you want to stuff in the Thanksgiving turkey?
Peggy Dewinter retired “Obama.” Bob Baiz registered nurse “Everyone on the Republican ticket.” Julie Olson stay at home mom “My sister’s ex-husband.” Kris Olson engineer “The president of Iran.”
They’ll burn for you
Whether you’ve known them since they were called Johnny Peebucks and the Swingin’ Utters or know them as $wingin’ Utter$, the Fat Wreck Chords recording artists now known as the Swingin’ Utters have earned their place in the punk rock pantheon. Since 1992’s Scared and right on through to 2011’s Here, Under Protest, the Bay…
The voice of a city
This is real community theater: At the Pacific Conservatory for the Performing Arts—more commonly known as PCPA, at Santa Maria’s Allan Hancock College—a new project titled Community Speaks! sends second-year students to interview members of the community they live in about an important issue. These 25 students then create a unique piece of theater honoring…
Mood music
Dating can be hard when you’re married, especially if you happen to be dating your spouse. Instead of the nervous excitement and curiosity of being out on the town with a new person, married daters get the added pressure of worrying about a babysitter and scheduling a rare evening of fun that had better be…
Breaking the boy’s club
CJ Silas is legit. In 2004, when the sports broadcaster began work at a Los Angeles radio network, she was already a seasoned expert, with a degree in broadcast journalism and experience in sports radio and television all over the country, including gigs at ESPN and CBS Sportsline. And when she took the L.A. gig,…
Small figures in a vast expanse
Artist Duane Armstrong is talking rapidly about sales. He’s briefing me on appraisal, marketing, framing, shipping, and retail. Impressive figures are whizzing by like rockets. “When you get to this level, you’re not dealing in pictures anymore,” he says, a mixture of pride and rue in his voice. Armstrong should know. The painter, raised near…
Put some thought into your diet
Choosing the proper path of sustenance need not leave you lost. In beginning your search, you must have an idea of body type. Many cultures, aside from the “one size fits all” mentality of our own, have systems that prescribe different diets for different body types. From India, there’s the ancient science of healing named…
Margerum 2009 M5 Santa Barbara County
This Rhone blend is made in the style of Chateauneuf-du-Pape with five varieties in the following percentages: 47 Syrah, 27 Grenache, 14 Mourvedre, six Counoise, three Cinsault, and three other blends. Winemaker Doug Margerum sources the grapes from 11 vineyards to create this unique wine. Big and bold, it opens with briary, wild blackberry and…
Kynsi 2008 Pinot Noir Rosé Barn Owl Blush
This delicious, dry Rosé is perfect for those who love dry pink wines and Pinot Noir. Even if you can’t buy it in time for Thanksgiving, the holiday season is just starting. Think of this as a fabulous aperitif to kick off your dinner parties—your guests will thank you for it. This pretty, cranberry-hued blush…
Drink wines winemakers love with holiday meals
I always enjoy the weekly food section in the LA Times. My favorite was the one where they asked a winemaker which wine he or she was drinking at the moment. I borrowed the idea, but rather than ask one winemaker, I asked several winemakers what they’ll be drinking with holiday meals. It’s great fun…
Clubs
Goin’ South … 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…
Take it to The Edge
It’s 9 a.m., and people are funneling into The Edge for the first class of the day. The doors open, and a woman in workout gear appears. As soon as she spots studio owners Kristin Alexander and Suzanne Smith, a broad smile sweeps across her face. As more people arrive, that scene quickly becomes a…
Cougars & Mustangs
With the motto “honor the whole,” SUSTAIN-SLO brings Cal Poly faculty members and students together with local government and business in a merging of minds to give sustainability a legitimate voice and an active role in our community. SUSTAIN-SLO features 100 students from different majors working on assorted projects with four faculty members and other…
Water wars
A Nov. 9 meeting about Nipomo’s water problems began with a warning: Beware the white handouts. People walking through the door at the community meeting organized by the Nipomo Community Services District were met with a barrage of handouts, only one of which actually came from the CSD. That white sheet the CSD members warned…
County fee changes are approved
As part of a regular review, 347 San Luis Obispo County fees will be increasing in 2012. Out of 2,648 fees reviewed, however, 1,418 will remain unchanged, such as parking fees at the San Luis Obispo County Airport. Much of the fee changes likely won’t cause a stir, but golfers will have to fork over…
Paso Robles raises fees
Wastewater rates are going up in Paso Robles. Less than two dozen written protests were submitted to the Paso Robles City Council, which conducted a protest hearing Nov. 15. It would have taken half of all the water customers plus one to stop the increase. The rates will gradually rise for the next five years.…
Cal Poly fees are going up again
Cal Poly fees will be going up 8 percent next fall. The tuition hike will increase every student’s bill by $630 per year. This should come as no surprise to anyone following the rising costs of public higher education in California. Fees have jumped from a little more than $5,000 three years ago to $7,921…
SLO plans new guidelines for bars
Responding to complaints of excessive drinking and otherwise rowdy behavior in the downtown area, the City of San Luis Obispo is drafting new standards for businesses that serve alcohol. The new guidelines have yet to be set in stone, but on Nov. 14, the City Council gave the go-ahead for city staff to continue crafting…
Former ECOSLO director pleads no contest
Morgan Rafferty, an environmental activist and the former executive director of the nonprofit Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County, pleaded no contest to charges that she embezzled tens of thousands of dollars from the Environmental Center of San Luis Obispo County and SLO Mothers for Peace. Rafferty, 48, of Arroyo Grande, made the plea…
Cambria teacher arrested
A local high school teacher was placed on paid administrative leave after he was arrested Nov. 11. Walt Vickrey, a teacher at Coast Union High School in Cambria, was arrested at his home in Atascadero on suspicion of felony counts of spousal rape, oral copulation, and intimidation of a witness, as well as a misdemeanor…
Unoccupy SLO–or else
The Occupy San Luis Obispo movement is still hanging on by a thread, but after three cease and desist orders from SLO County, its ranks have dwindled. On the morning of Nov. 18, law enforcement agents delivered a notice to the encampment in front of the San Luis Obispo Superior Court House, telling the campers…
SLO County flexes its mussels
The thing about quagga mussels is once you get them, you can’t un-get them. The little mollusks spread like a rash in any water body they come into contact with, ruining recreational equipment, clogging pipelines, and generally wreaking havoc on the ecosystem. That’s why San Luis Obispo County agencies have devoted a combined $348,419 to…
TYLER KUTZ
NEW TIMES What originally sparked your interest in industrial technology? KUTZ I was first drawn to industrial technology because it is a very hands-on major. It offers a unique combination of classes in business, manufacturing, metals and plastic fabrication, product development and packaging materials, design, and testing. I really enjoy the fact that the curriculum…
All for love
It’s amazing what we humans endure in the name of love, and through it all we spend a lifetime supporting those we love through the joy of miracles, reward, and happiness to coping with disaster, disease, and death. In many ways, animals are a lot like us. They struggle with the pangs of loss, anxiety,…
Some finer points and questions on belief
Respectfully, Paul Rinzer’s and Scott Ziering’s letters (“Prove that there isn’t a teapot circling the moon” and “Someone making a positive claim bears the burden,” respectively, Nov. 17) are wrong in a number of important ways. For the record, these two letters reply to Otis Page’s assertions (“The burden of proof is on you, atheists,”…
Why do you feel the need to attack what I don’t believe?
I’m always curious about letters on the topic of atheism (“The burden of proof is on you, atheists,” Nov. 10; “Prove that there isn’t a teapot circling the moon,” Nov. 17; “Someone making a positive claim bears the burden,” Nov. 17), because of my own lack of belief in a god. I have done considerable…
Take my local leaders–please!
New Times has been sort of harsh on Supervisor Teixeira of late, but as one of his constituents, I have to say it’s deserved. Yes, he’s a somewhat likable stooge, but I’m not sure yet who owns him. Why this worries me as a rural Arroyo Grande resident is because there are a lot of…
Isn’t this expensive and nice?
More than three-quarters of a million dollars! That’s what the SLO City Council, in all its wisdom, approved to prettify two blocks of Higuera Street, down from three (“SLO City Council spends big on two blocks of downtown,” Nov. 17). New lighting, trash bins, tree grates, and Mission-style pavers for the sidewalks. Oh yes, and…
Ignore the other problems and enjoy these two blocks!
If the elitist, let-’em-eat-cake SLO City Council owned a house with a rotting foundation, it would gold-plate the bathtub and install crystal doorknobs. This council, which spent $102.5K so it could charge more (and add a seventh day) for parking downtown, decided Nov. 15 that it could afford a cool million (the official outlay will…
Get in the managing trenches, City Council
Robert McDonald’s “Nickel and dimed” article (Nov. 10) is a real eye opener He shows us voting citizens what happens when we don’t pay enough attention to civic affairs. Our city council, like its predecessors, sings from the official hymnbook: “We hire good people and let them do their jobs. We don’t interfere. We don’t…
Do not tamper with Sweet Springs
My interest in the Sweet Springs Preserve comes from having lived within a half-mile of the spot since 1978—first in Cuesta-by-the-Sea and now on 4th Street. I pass by it every day at least once, run or walk through it at least twice a week, and admire the tall trees from my back deck every…
Justice or payback?
I’ve never been a big fan of complexity. Give me a story with a mustachio-twirling villain strapping a beautiful dame to the train tracks, and a hunky do-gooder protagonist rescuing her and bringing the dastardly villain to justice. I don’t want to be bogged down by an insufferable, indecipherable gray area. I want a tomato…
