Cover Story
Within the law, under the radar
Rich looks like comedian Ron White—if someone wrapped him in an “Oaksterdam” T-shirt. He asked not to have his full name published in this story. Why? Rich founded Cannafornia Health Services earlier this year, one of a handful of medical marijuana delivery services in SLO County. Such services are now one of the only ways…
Test
For Lisa Deyo, dance means conversation. It means conversation between dancers and audiences, dancers and choreographers, dancers and musicians, and dancers and other dancers. Each year Deyo sets in motion elaborate conversations, some of them a continuation of dialogue that has gone before. This year, one conversation, “Blue,” set to Marcus Roberts’ version of Ira…
Bodies talk
For Lisa Deyo, dance means conversation. It means conversation between dancers and audiences, dancers and choreographers, dancers and musicians, and dancers and other dancers. Each year Deyo sets in motion elaborate conversations, some of them a continuation of dialogue that has gone before. This year, one conversation, “Blue,” set to Marcus Roberts’ version of Ira…
The best fall festivals
Fall is a beautiful time of year to be in San Luis Obispo County, and it’s a great season for food and wine lovers. It’s a time when the final harvesting of stone fruits, corn, and strawberries grown on the Central Coast signifies the end of summer. And it’s crunch time for wineries that go…
Art Aguilar
NEW TIMES: What is the job market like in SLO County? AGUILAR: Well, here are some facts: In SLO County there are roughly 100,000 working jobs. Of those, 22,100 are government jobs, 19,500 are utility jobs. Then there are about 15,000 jobs in leisure and hospitality. In addition, there are 11,600 quasi-government jobs like education…
What are your ideals?
Silvio Aebischer industrial designer “Equality and health care for all.” Liz Long certified educator (health specialist) “Everybody says tradition, tradition. What we really need is change. I speak out for change. Change is simple. My age group says get off your butts and make the change.” David Thomas Harell architectural designer/developer “Spiritual enlightenment, equality, compassion,…
SLO studies bar ‘problem’
Owners of the 10 most popular downtown San Luis Obispo bars were caught off guard in early October when the city’s police department held a pair of meetings offering a sneak peek at a city-funded study on the relationship between licensed liquor establishments and police activity in the downtown area. While the meetings were…
Talking green but working against it
Ever since she saw the House of the Future at Disneyland when she was a little girl, Nancy Van Tassel wanted a home that would be self-sustaining. This year, she finally had a solar system installed atop her house high in the hills above Atascadero. She was ready to enjoy guilt-free air conditioning and planned…
Clarification
Rob Rutherford’s titles were outdated in the Oct. 8 story, “Controversy erupts over Michael Pollan’s Poly lecture.” He is the past chairman of the California Sheep Commission and a past president of the California Wool Growers
Atascadero goes after Gearhart
Atascadero is joining the long line of people who want money from disgraced developer Kelly Gearhart. The city of Atascadero is trying to recover hundreds of thousands of dollars in unpaid fees in an Ohio bankruptcy court. Some of the more than 54 unpaid fees go back to 2004, long before the developer became…
Supervisors pledge to rein in pension costs
The San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Oct. 11 to begin to deflate ballooning county pension costs. Facing a $299 million unfunded pension fund liability, the supervisors instructed the county administrator to negotiate with county worker unions to raise employee contributions by nearly four percent and create a second, less favorable tier…
There’s a budget storm on the horizon
The first major storm couldn’t have come at a more metaphorically relevant time. SLO County officials even noted the ominous weather when they unveiled financial projections for the coming fiscal year. “Just cutting to the bottom line here, it’s a gloomy day and it’s a gloomy forecast,” County Administrator Jim Grant told county supervisors…
DUI-charged deputy changes plea
The attorney for the San Luis Obispo County sheriff’s deputy who was charged with driving under the influence in September announced his client wouldn’t contest the charges at a pre-trial hearing in the SLO Courthouse on Oct. 13. Though James Lesperance, 45, of Pismo Beach, wasn’t present at the hearing, attorney James Murphy changed…
DeCicco fights a two-front battle
Developer Franco DeCicco has his sights set on a vacant gas station lot in Cayucos, but he’s straddling two lawsuits: one brought against his proposed motel/condo project and one he’s brought against the California Coastal Commission. Whether he wins or loses the lawsuit he initiated, DeCicco could be looking at bad news. DeCicco proposed…
Meaningful art and volunteer opportunities
There is always a handful of artistic events that fill two purposes: to bring awareness, and to enrich or entertain. Award-winning film screening calls attention to A.L.S., commonly known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease. ALS Film Fund presents Indestructible, an award-winning documentary that follows film maker Ben Byer, friends, and family through his courageous experience…
All you need is love…and Rent
New Times Tell me about your professional background. Domonique Paton I’ve been performing professionally for 15 years and I’m 21. I dance, my mother and grandmother were both dancers all of their lives. I stumbled upon singing and found that to be something I enjoyed as much as dancing. I just got off the…
Cal Poly faculty exhibits their art
The faculty exhibition at Cal Poly’s University Art Gallery smells like a perfume ad, sounds like either a passing wave or Laotian crickets, and alternately has the feel of a wildlife preserve, aquarium, and standard art gallery. A few faculty members cite the possibility of another olfactory experience as well—bullshit. That is to say, they…
Potent quotables
The famous metaphysical philosopher Rene Descartes once wrote, “I think, therefore I am.” It was his grand contribution to the timeless questions of existence and the mysteries in the relationship between body and mind. Less famous ultimate-fighter-turned-TV-dance-competitor Chuck Liddell once wrote, “This week I thought I looked like Big Bird, but that’s OK. It…
Baker blinked
An invitation for food politics writer Michael Pollan, the author of The Omnivore’s Dilemma, to speak at Cal Poly resulted in controversy after Cal Poly President Baker received a letter from Harris Ranch Beef Company Chairman, David E. Wood, demanding that Pollan’s views be challenged in a public setting (“Controversy erupts over Michael Pollan’s Poly…
People always go where they’re fed
I support health insurance reforms and a public option, but I am adamantly against mandatory health insurance. Mandatory health insurance benefits nobody but the insurance companies. It does not benefit the citizens of the United States. My husband and I are currently self-employed and uninsured—but when we need medical attention, we do not go to…
Check out the garden
I would like to know just how James Small (“Goodbye, park,” Oct. 1) supported the San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden. I have been a long time volunteer and financial supporter and I have never met him and neither have any of the office staff, directors, nor volunteers I talked to, either. He says a promise…
Staying true
I put a sticker on my rear bumper and have been pulled over twice because of it. The sticker reads “peace and love” in Arabic. The Morro Bay cop said I rolled through a stop sign (I didn’t). He let me go without a ticket. The SLO cop said I didn’t let a pedestrian…
Fight the proposed PG&E ballot initiative against public power
Thank you for the excellent article, “PG&E pushes vote to limit public power,” (Sept. 10). Your focus on SLO has reference to the rest of the state, where PG&E is bullying their way around. I warned of this years ago in “green” summits and no one listened. I find it curious now that city leaders…
Talk about rolling the dice
We sympathize with Cal Poly professor Jeff Wong’s wish that “the debate on genetic engineering was more of a discussion and less a series of attacks,” and with the Farm Bureau’s position that “as long as ‘the science is there,’ farmers should be able to market such crops” (“Playing God, alfalfa style,” Oct. 8). Those…
Challenge factory beef
As the second generation of a small grass-fed cattle and farming operation I would like to inquire why David Wood of Harris Ranch feels so threatened by the opinions of Michael Pollan? Having attended university myself I find nothing unusual in having a speaker visit to offer his perspective on the world. Every such event…
Poly panel should include vegans
I read with interest the article about Harris Beef Ranch Company objecting to Michael Pollan’s appearance at Cal Poly (“Controversy erupts over Michael Pollan’s Poly lecture,” Oct. 8). The animal agricultural giant threatened to withdraw a promised donation for a new meat processing facility (slaughterhouse) on campus if Pollan’s appearance weren’t matched by “balanced” views.…
Tantamount to extortion
New Times tells of the controversy regarding Michael Pollan’s planned lecture on the Cal Poly Campus (“Controversy erupts over Michael Pollan’s Poly lecture,” Oct. 8). It is a sad day when the Harris Ranch Beef Company can leverage the promise of a $500,000 donation to get onstage to refute Pollan.
It’s a done deal
As a red-blooded American omnivore, I find Harris Ranch Beef Company Chairman David Wood’s attempts to mold Cal Poly policy reprehensible (“Controversy erupts over Michael Pollan’s Poly lecture,” Oct. 8). The only thing more reprehensible would be if Cal Poly’s President Warren Baker kowtows. I for one will begin my own personal boycott of Harris…
Extended honeymoon
When Russell Thomas, co-owner of the Honeymoon Café in San Luis Obispo, was dreaming up ideas for a little fun that the staff and customers could both enjoy, he set his sights high—a world record seemed about right. In keeping with the local café’s passion for unique organic dishes, he figured, “Why not a record-breaking…
Chamisal Vineyard 2008 Chardonnay Unoaked
Winemaker Fintan “Fin” du Fresne, formerly Domaine Alfred, has a keen palate when it comes to Chardonnay made without oak. He strives to showcase the essence of Central Coast Chardonnay, according to the stat sheet, and he has done it well. Sourced from two sustainably farmed vineyards in Edna Valley and the Santa Lucia Highlands…
Bang your head!
OK, I admit it. I’m not a fan of metal or death metal. Yet I know there are a lot of people who love it, like this tool sitting at the desk next to me. Steve Miller, New Times’ intrepid photographer and my partner in crime for the Split Screen movie reviews, loves metal. In…
