Cover Story
Corrections
• A cover story on heroin abuse in SLO County (“Coming back from the dead,” Oct. 31) misstated the official title of Dr. Scott Bisheff. He’s the medical director of Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center’s emergency department. • Last week’s arts story on the SLO Poetry Festival (“Words for the human community,” Oct. 31) incorrectly…
Pay to pray? Pismo Beach is hit with a lengthy lawsuit from a religion watchdog
Download PDFs of the lawsuit. They’ve been agitated for years, and now a coalition of individuals and organizations who object to Pismo Beach’s brand of public prayer has filed an extensive, strongly worded lawsuit in San Luis Obispo County Superior Court. The Freedom From Religion Foundation, a Wisconsin-based nonprofit, is the official name on the…
WWPBD?
It’s hard to admit, but I’ve been having religious thoughts lately. Even I find myself pondering life’s biggest moral dilemmas sometimes—usually, how I’ve come up on the immoral side of basically every last one of them. Sloth, greed, gluttony, envy—you name it, I’ve done it. When it comes to top-notch trickery, though, I’m truly impressed/horrified…
Your facial hair: Why?
Jeff Shield vacationer “Because I’m on vacation.” Eddie Gonzalez county planner “Less maintenance.” Josiah Webster pastor “Because I don’t have to shave every day.” Mike Vasquez licensed massage therapist “Because of Movember! And we’re doing our Movember promotion at Bladerunner.”
The Cayucos Pier Benefit Concert promises to be the event of the season
I’ve got many a fine memory of the Cayucos pier, like jumping off the end of it during huge storms to paddle out into double overhead surf, or to just keep on paddling right out to Mouse Rock for some sick drop-ins. Or watching former Cayucos resident and pro surfer Dave Parmenter take off on…
Science After Dark presents ‘Saving the Nine Muses’
Chemistry and art? It’s an unusual, yet heady mix that’s the focus of the next talk in a series called Science After Dark, presented by the Central Coast STEM Collaborative, or CCSTEM. On Wednesday, Nov. 13, two famed art conservationists—Zdravko Barov and Constance Faber—will join Dr. Dane Jones from Cal Poly in a presentation on…
Ghouls, evil clowns, Adam & Eve, and Heisenberg at the VooDoo Boogaloo!
It’s Friday, Nov. 1, and I’m wearing the laziest Halloween costume ever. Yes, even lazier than a white sheet with eyeholes. I’m a safari guy, which means I’ve got khaki shorts and a shirt on, with a khaki cargo vest and pith helmet. Hey, it was that or my Mexican wrestler outfit, and seeing as…
At the PAC, Dance Theatre of Harlem presents a thoroughly American repertoire
To hear the story of Dance Theatre of Harlem is to revisit the last half-century of American history. In 1969, shortly after the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., a black ballet dancer named Arthur Mitchell began teaching classes in a garage on Harlem’s 152nd Street. Inspired by the ideals of the civil rights era,…
Clubs 11/7/13
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…
Calm in the face of fame: David Vienna lands a book deal after telling parents to take it easy
I’m not at all jealous of David Vienna. I mean, I was. But I’m not now. When I first heard that the man who essentially took me under his wing when I was first an intern at the Sun—New Times’ sister paper in Santa Maria—and trained me up in the ways of journalism, essentially grooming…
Cold and sheepish: Negranti Creamery in Paso Robles
Yes, people milk sheep. But as far as I can tell, only one of those people—at least in this country—has decided to use that milk to make delicious, small-batch ice cream available on the retail market. That person is Alexis Negranti of Negranti Creamery in Paso Robles. A SLO native and Cal Poly alumna with…
Longoria 2012 Pinot Grigio Santa Barbara County and Longoria 2012 Rosé June Cuvée Santa Barbara County
Longoria 2012 Pinot Grigio Santa Barbara County This vintage of pinot gris is one winemaker Rick Longoria believes is his best for this variety yet, and I agree. The grapes, grown in Santa Barbara County’s Alisos and Clover Creek vineyards, were whole-cluster pressed and fermented for 14 days. That preserved the elegant fruit flavors until…
Back Porch Bakery is as good as it gets!
Everybody has a dream, but people always find all of the excuses they need to keep them from getting started,” said chef Dan Berkeland, founder and co-owner of Back Porch Bakery in SLO. He and his partner Bill Brocco own and operate a wholesale bread and pastry company that supplies many of South County’s best…
Gee, Whiz! Biz Whiz Academy helps kids with entrepreneurship
Morro Bay resident Erik Amato has created a new-kid friendly company, Biz Whiz Academy, that helps give children the tools they need to become entrepreneurs. An entrepreneur himself, Amato came up with the idea in 2005 while helping his then-teenage daughter start her own babysitting business. Along with his wife Isabel, he began developing Biz…
Cougars & Mustangs: Keeping it fresh
We’re a good chunk of the way into fall term now, whatever brand of “term” applies to your educational structure. For some students, the telltale signs of routine finally kicking off its shoes and making itself comfortable are quite apparent, and hopefully that’s a good thing! Even partway through a quarter of Cal Poly, however,…
Paso sheds light on trails
The Paso Robles City Council recently took steps to begin repair work and improve safety and maintenance on trails along the Salinas River. After feedback from residents and businesses that sit near the trail, the council decided at its Nov. 5 meeting to continue with ongoing trail improvement efforts by approving $19,000 for a series…
Supervisors override an appeal from Pirate’s Cove conservationists
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously during their Nov. 5 meeting to override two appeals that sought to maintain the status quo at Pirate’s Cove. Though appellants Sean Shealy and Brian LoConte both made impassioned arguments for why Pirate’s Cove should remain as is, the board wasn’t swayed. Supervisor Adam Hill,…
County attempts a small step on the homeless plan ‘failure’
San Luis Obispo County adopted the “10-year plan to end homelessness” in 2008, but a recently released report by the county’s Homelessness Services Oversight Council shows that the number of local homeless people continues to grow. In January, the council tallied 2,186 homeless individuals—roughly 1 percent of the population—up nearly 3 percent from 2011. As…
Supes to urge feds to create long-term nuclear waste storage
Responding to concerns that radioactive waste at the Diablo Canyon nuclear power plant presents an ongoing safety risk until the federal government can decide on a solution for long-term off-site storage, the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors unanimously agreed to send a letter to the state’s federal Senate and congressional representatives asking them…
A Morro Bay resident wins in a state election code lawsuit
Since 2011, a Morro Bay man and two local attorneys have had an ongoing challenge to California’s rules governing participation in various political committees. The lawsuit brought against California Secretary of State Deb Bowen, state Attorney General Kamala Harris, and San Luis Obispo County Clerk-Recorder Julie Rodewald focused on an election code dictating that would-be…
Atascadero appeals FEMA’s plans to revoke funding
As Atascadero takes steps to move on from a 10-year saga that started with an earthquake and still isn’t quite settled, the city has filed an appeal disputing a federal agency’s decision to reclaim some money. In late July, just as city leaders prepared to return to the historic City Hall—an iconic four-story red brick…
Help prevent another Fukushima
“The Nuclear Regulatory Commission will be taking comments on what you think about their plan to store highly radioactive waste on our seismically active coast for the next 300 years.” (per the November 2013 Santa Lucian) If you disagree, as I do, make your voice heard at the meeting scheduled for Nov. 20. The NRC…
This is our health-care crisis
In the hubbub over the funding of ObamaCare, people seem to have lost sight of the problems with our health-care system that prompted the enactment of the Affordable Care Act (aka ObamaCare). Neither the Tea Party people nor the Ted “Cruzies” have alternate answers to the problems. They only seem to be addicted to the…
This Iron Mayor will protect clean water
As one of the team of activist-residents who got this whole ball rolling back in 2004, I feel the need to chime in about the wastewater project, former city attorney, city manager, and the Iron Mayor of Morro Bay. As was the case in Los Osos, even with a heavily tampered election process (Los Osos…
The council is in charge
I am disturbed by this quote from Jeff Jones, a former Morro Bay fire chief, who addresses the council: “You guys are part-time advisers to the city. These guys are professionals.” (“Morro Bay city attorney will get the axe after all,” Oct. 24). He is calling the mayor and the council advisers, rather than leaders…
Stairway to plastisphere
A new report from UCLA School of Law’s Emmett Center on Climate Change and the Environment and UCLA’s Institute of the Environment and Sustainability states, “Plastic litter is one of the most significant problems facing the world’s marine environments. Yet in the absence of a coordinated global strategy, an estimated 20 million tons of plastic…
