Cover Story
Missing pieces
On a cold December morning in San Luis Obispo, Joshua Houlgate and Sarah Lonsinger-Rey lay together on a mattress in the family room of a dark, empty, one-bedroom trailer. A Christmas tree covered in strands of small white lights stood in the corner, but Houlgate unplugged the lights and left the room in darkness. The…
Eat their Pacific Dust
At times delivering groovy, breezy Americana folk and at others drifting into psychedelic power pop, The Mother Hips have demonstrated time and time again that they’re the evolutionary musical descendents of the likes of Gram Parsons and The Band—but without ever sounding antiquated. They’ve been in the studio toiling away on Pacific Dust, their seventh…
Art isn’t always what it seems
New Times Why are you doing this show, “Shrines & Alters”? Eric Johnson It’s a chance for me, after many years, of doing photography about the external world, observing it and describing it in a personal way. I am dealing with anthropological or illogical concepts. I went “inside” on this series, much more overtly. The…
Take to the open air
All this week, Montserrat Daubón has painted landscapes of the Central Coast. She started, along with 49 other artists, on Sept. 28. All week she’s painted and on Oct. 2 the serious collectors will gather at the Art Center for the first opportunity to purchase Daubón, and the other artists’ work. That evening, during Art…
Demons and monkeys and gods, oh my!
Seven demon masks. Eight monkey tails. An evil god equipped with 10 heads and 20 arms. Seventeen shadow puppets of chariots flying across the sky, gods and goddesses riding eagles and elephants. It’s been a busy summer for Timo Beckwith, a multi-talented artist who in June was charged with creating the more than 50 accessories…
Lofty ambitions, and art
Rosa Lee Sonney characterizes Paso Robles’ fledgling cultural scene as a party. If that’s the case it’s a soiree the art appreciator has infiltrated, assuming responsibility—along with fellow artist Evani Lupinek—for the gallery space above Park Street’s FireFly Gallery. Both were former board members at ARTernatives when creative energy and collaboration in SLO were high.…
Public to pay for PG&E mistakes
A few months ago, a fire swept the dry hills in eastern San Luis Obispo. Ignited by sparks from a faulty power line, the fire quickly consumed 70 acres of open space. As the neighborhood below was evacuated, 200 firefighters with 25 engines and two air tankers struggled to extinguish the blaze. Had the wind…
Loud noises will find more opposition in San Luis Obispo
Listen up, committed drunken house partiers: It’s time to start saving up to pay more fines. The San Luis Obispo City Council voted Sept. 29 to develop harsher rules to tamp down on noisy parties. The council agreed with police suggestions to tighten up its noise ordinances by coming down harder on repeat-offender houses, to…
Teixeira enters sheriff’s race
After announcing his intention to run in the already-contentious SLO County Sheriff’s race in June, one candidate will make an unprecedented pledge regarding his salary. According to an assistant with his campaign, retired California Highway Patrol Sergeant Michael “Tex” Teixeira will announce at a press conference that, if elected, he would donate 20 percent of…
Supervisors reject all Los Osos appeals
Despite 16 appeals and excruciatingly meticulous hearings by the SLO County Planning Commission, county supervisors seemed determined to put the Los Osos sewer project to bed in one day—and they did. After hearing a dozen or so hours of solid testimony, county supervisors rejected all 16 appeals and upheld the Planning Commission’s version of the…
Is the dinosaur going extinct?
The Morro Bay Power Plant may well be on the path toward retirement. Based on a new set of regulations from the State Water Resources Control Board, the plant may be rendered unprofitable, and city officials are bracing for a potential economic loss. “I don’t think anybody ever wanted to keep a dinosaur going,” said…
Don’t let rowdies ruin WOW
As a parent of a 2005 Cal Poly graduate, I feel compelled to speak about the recent Week of Welcome. Our daughter attended the Week of Welcome Program in 2001and met many new students like her and participated in many activities offered throughout the campus. Not once did she or her new friends feel the need to…
Did the deputy look the other way?
I applaud the Arroyo Grande police for not following the good-old-boy double standard when they arrested SLO County deputy sheriff Lesperance (“Sheriff’s deputy charged with DUI,” Sept. 24). Unfortunately, Lesperance used poor judgment by getting behind the wheel after consuming alcohol. But the police followed the oath they took to uphold the law. I found…
Substitute teachers deserve higher pay
Do you know how much substitute teachers in this area make? Well, in the Lucia Mar School District (encompassing schools from Nipomo to Shell Beach) a substitute teacher makes base wages of $44 for a half day (210 minutes) and $88 for a full day. From those wages, federal and state taxes are subtracted, as…
Goodbye, park
Until recently, I was a big supporter of the SLO Botanical Garden. But when I read “Beware the bedazzling plan” (Sept. 10), I had to agree with the author Richard Schmidt, who wrote: “Why, when we were promised an arboretum, do we now hear we’re going to get this sort of extensive development way out…
The Muslims are coming, the Muslims are coming!
I just want to bring to your attention the threat of Iran. The threat of Iran concerns me because it has a two-fold effect. First, the Iranian leaders want to obliterate Israel and if that happens, a war in the Middle East could ensue and involve other countries, including the U.S. Even if we were…
Call for gardening tips
The Master Gardeners of San Luis Obispo County recently celebrated the most successful Tomato Extravaganza to date—due in large part to the generous support of donors and the community. Despite 110-degree temperatures, more than 400 visitors (a record number) showed up to sample dozens of varieties of tomatoes and basil, view fruit-tree grafting, worm-composting demonstrations,…
Fear’s the way we die
One of the most ignorant arguments against health care reform is that the government would make decisions about health care delivery. Are the people who fear that OK with CEOs and “for-profit” corporate bureaucrats making the decisions? Who do they think is making those decisions now? It’s people who have a profit motive first and…
Costco checks, too
The author of the letter “Walmart launches dragnet,” (Sept. 17) should try shopping at Costco: They check everyone. And not only that, you have to pay Costco to be able to shop there. Try buying a DVD or stereo in a sealed box. They open it up at checkout to make sure you didn’t slip…
Don’t buy the PG&E explanation
Hats off to writer April Worley for her excellent article about how PG&E controls energy and gets richer (“PG&E pushes vote to limit public power,” Sept. 10). Lompoc is trying to get wind energy—a great alternative. We must move toward renewable energy sources (like Lompoc is) and get away from fossil and nuclear fuels. It…
Water supply deserves attention
I commend Kathy Johnston on her very interesting and informative article about the SLO County water supply issues (“Ground zero for groundwater,” Sept. 17). I think her article will help bring more attention and hopefully more resources to address the problem.
State shouldn’t subsidize off-road industry
California State Parks and Recreation skims off $60 million a year from our state fuel tax. It hoards this money in its Off Highway Vehicle Division (OHV) “Trust Fund”. How did this happen? In 1972, the off-highway vehicle industry and its Sacramento insiders pulled off a coup called the Chappie Z’berg Act. The OHV industry…
Pay the rent
The time is now to do everything we can to protect our public lands for future generations! As we see greed and corruption becoming status quo for some of our government leaders, it is up to us, the people, to speak up and stand up for our home, Earth. We must protect all wild places…
County should help DeVaul provide shelter
How much money did the county of San Luis Obispo spend to bring Dan DeVaul to trial? Come up with an actual dollar amount: County taxpayers deserve to know. At this point, would it not make more sense to spend the money on fixing up Sunny Acres than to retry DeVaul? We will be waiting…
Poo-poo ca-choo
Pssst: Lisa Schicker and her buddies hate getting made fun of by anonymous columnists. If she’s nearby right now while you’re reading this, just point somewhere and yell, “Is that Public Works Director Paavo Ogren beating up a baby seal?” and run like hell. I’ll admit I stole that “pssst” bit from an anonymous…
Feel the thunder!
SLO County isn’t exactly expecting a Sturgis-style motorcycle rally choking its streets next weekend, but don’t be surprised if you see more classic motorcycles on the road … a lot more. That’s because the Central Coast Classic Motorcycle Club (CCCMC) is hosting “The SLO Classic Motorcycle Rally,” a four-day event from Thursday, Oct. 8 through…
Scream supreme
Little do most people know that in the depths below the Olde Arroyo Grande Post Office, there once operated an old delivery service dating back to the days of the Pony Express. Over the years, this service has developed its own—um, unconventional—methods of delivering the mail. Once the post office moved out, these creepy subterranean…
Ortman 2006 Pinot Noir Santa Rita Hills
This terrific Pinot Noir, from one of our notable SLO County family wineries, is an excellent choice in affordable Pinot Noir. It offers pretty red and black fruit characters, from cherry, raspberry, strawberry, and plums to hints of herbs, earth, and dried cranberry. The grapes are grown in Santa Barbara County’s outstanding new appellation. It’s…
Morgan 2008 Pinot Gris Santa Lucia Highlands
This notable Monterey winery, founded in 1982, consistently produces delicious, eclectic white wines. I love this crisp, pretty wine for its mellow grapefruit, melon and citrus aromas and flavors with nuances of green apple and minerals. It’s a great choice for shrimp, calamari, halibut or swordfish, poultry, main dish salads, or as an aperitif. It’s…
A taste of the future
Like most Americans I’m diligent about recycling, especially my old copies of New Times, trash mail, and wine bottles, yet it seems as though I’ve only begun to stick my toe into green waters. Honestly, it bugs me when I watch the clueless (far too many of them) throw Styrofoam cups into recycle bins. However,…
What would make you happier?
Cynthia Freeman Cal Trans worker “To be able to take a real vacation. That would make me really happy.” Jay Lapalm computer engineer “I think if people could just get off their asses and think a little bit. I think everybody should just think about what they do more. Less talk, more thought.” Heath Milne…
Single-payer insurance would save money
Do you know why it is that there is only one garbage company serving our area? Or only one cable provider? Would it not be better to have multiple companies in these industries to increase competition and thus drive down prices for consumers? The answer to the latter question is no. These particular industries lend…
Jono Hicks
NEW TIMES: How long have people been trying to get a cement skate park in SLO? HICKS: The local skateboard community has been trying to get a cement skate park for the last 15 years. About 18 months ago the design was approved by the city. Supposedly next year they’re breaking ground. The skate park…
