Cover Story
Pushing transition: Advocates rally for changes in how SLO County schools deal with transgender issues
Remember your teenage years, the awkward self-consciousness and the pressure to make friends at school. The struggle of transitioning from kid to adult, the push and pull of wanting to discover your own individuality, and trying to fit in with your peers. Now imagine that on top of everything else, you were assigned the wrong…
Do you feel safe riding your bike around SLO?
Michael F. customer service rep “Depends on the streets I’m on and depends on the time.” Carson Britz consultant/janitor “It depends on how many tourists are in town.” Alison Marie Wheeler tri-sport specialist “Yes, because I use certain precautions.” Julianne Gombotz student “Not at night but during the day, yes.”
Doghouse Promotions moves branding agency to SLO
Who says being in the doghouse is always a bad thing? Doghouse Promotions, a local corporate branding and promotions agency, works with marketing needs of businesses large and small by branding useful products (think T-shirts and water bottles). For Liz and Brian Espy, co-owners and husband-and-wife team, being in the doghouse is excellent. The two…
Cougars & Mustangs
Students have different abilities to learn any one thing and different knacks for learning that thing versus learning another thing. What can come naturally for one person can be an immense struggle for someone else, and there’s really no shame in that. Hopefully, this is something that anyone reading this column has already learned on…
Frat troubles: Cal Poly continues to try to reign in mischief among the Greek community
It was the weekend before fall 2015 classes at Cal Poly began, and like so many other students, members of Alpha Gamma Rho got together for an “event” at their California Boulevard fraternity house. At one point, according to the San Luis Obispo Police Department (SLOPD), two young men allegedly came to the door and…
Safety waits for money: Lack of funding is stalling improvements in SLO’s bike infrastructure
Temperate weather, beautiful coastal scenery accented by the iconic Seven Sisters, and an enthusiastic outdoors community make SLO an idyllic area for bicycling. But collision and fatality statistics indicate otherwise. Between 2011 and 2014, there were 11 bicycle deaths in SLO County, according to CHP data. SLO came in last place for bike fatalities and…
Correction
The Oct. 8 article “Trouble on the wine trail,” incorrectly states the number of rooms in a lodging facility proposed by Opolo Vineyards. While Opolo pitched an eight-room bed and breakfast during an early round of planning, that proposal was later scrapped.
Clarification
Opolo Vineyards owner Richard Quinn asked New Times to clarify statements made in the Oct. 8 article “Trouble on the wine trail.” Quinn said the only thing constructed without a permit at Opolo was a storage facility added to the already existing winery.
Chumash marine sanctuary back on track
After hitting a snag earlier this year, a proposed marine sanctuary located in the waters along the Central Coast is back on track. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA, announced Oct. 9 that it would consider approving the Chumash Heritage National Marine Sanctuary. The nomination of the sanctuary, which would stretch from Santa…
Arroyo Grande approves inmate work crews
The city of Arroyo Grande enlisted some unlikely help tackling small maintenance projects around the city for the next several years. Members of the City Council approved a five-year contract with the California Men’s Colony and the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation to utilize inmate work crews for unskilled labor within the city.…
Morro Bay enters agreement with Trident Winds
The city of Morro Bay has agreed to cooperate with a company that has lofty plans to build a large wind energy plant 15 miles off the coast of Morro Bay. The agreement, called a memorandum of cooperation (MOC), is non-binding and largely symbolic, but is a sign of good faith between the two parties…
Los Osos CSD general manager under investigation
The Los Osos Community Services District Board of Directors is hiring an outside investigator to examine allegations that General Manager Kathy Kivley misappropriated district funds, the board announced on Oct. 12 following a closed session performance review of Kivley. “We authorized the retention of an outside investigator to investigate the allegation of the general manager’s…
California Governor signs medical marijuana regulations into law
Medical marijuana advocates around the state recently exhaled a giant sigh of relief. On Oct. 9, Gov. Jerry Brown signed a long-awaited set of bills that will establish a comprehensive regulatory framework for medical marijuana in California. State lawmakers passed the legislative package—which includes AB 266, AB 243, and SB 643—on Sept. 11, the last…
Bristols Hard Cider’s Rackham and Vina Robles’ 2014 White4
Remember bobbing for apples during Halloween? Me neither. Let’s cheer the fact that we were born in the age of pre-packaged mini candies! What better way to celebrate apple season than with a bottle of Bristols Hard Cider’s Rackham? Made with 100 percent Braeburn apples dry hopped with Citra, Amarillo, and Belma hops, this crisp…
Nature first
Lil’ green thumbs: Per tradition, Sunset SAVOR the Central Coast has donated the event’s “farm-to-school garden” to Lucia Mar Unified School District’s Ocean View Elementary in Arroyo Grande. “The gardens help teach students about the importance of fruits and vegetables and the ease of growing them,” said Chuck Davison, president and CEO of Visit San…
Beda’s Biergarden is German food with heart
The thing about Beda’s is that you keep going back. At least I do. It’s quickly become my “third place,” an oasis removed from work or home supplied with its own culture and cast of characters. You can hang out for hours with a beer and chew the fat with Beda Schmidthues himself, or you…
Short on time? Los Osos offers a bonanza of Open Studios
Over-sharing is so underrated. Stroll into real-life studios manned by real-life local artists during ARTS Obispo’s 17th Open Studios Art Tour happening now through Oct. 18. You will see art, yes—but you might also catch a glimpse of something even more interesting: the inner-workings of creative minds! There are literally hundreds of artists to pop…
Fremont fun: ‘Otello’ and ‘Back to the Future 2’ screen Oct. 17 and 21
The Fremont Theatre isn’t just a place for your average blockbuster flicks! The historic theatre will showcase The Met Opera Live featuring a production of Otello this Oct. 17 at 9:55 a.m. with plenty of revenge, lust, and heartsickness to spare. Too early in the morning for ya? At 4:29 p.m. on Oct. 21, go…
Art, art, everywhere: There’s still time to catch the 2015 Open Studios Art Tour
It’s Sunday, and it’s hot—yes everybody, it’s Oct. 11 and global warming is making an appearance. El Niño, where are you? You’re late. My friend and I are doing what every 20-something does on a late weekend morning. Sitting in line for cheap Costco gas before we load up on equal parts caffeine and kombucha.…
Sculptural wonders are on display at SLOMA through Nov. 15
By the year 1939, the Underwood Typewriter Company of NYC had produced oodles of typewriters—so many, in fact (or fiction), that to hear a single key clacked by all 5 million simultaneously would render you instantly deaf. But one of those unassuming typewriters—a shiny, black 1938 model—was bound to be used for more than typing. …
‘Sea Marks’ makes a comeback at Pewter Plough Playhouse after 30 years
Actress Mara Purl first fell in love with the play Sea Marks in the 1980s. She was living in LA at the time and something about the story—which centers on the heart-wrenching long distance relationship of a fisherman on a remote Irish island and a woman living in Liverpool—captured her soul. One day, her agent…
The annual Jubilee by the Sea hot jazz festival takes place Oct. 22 to 25 in Pismo Beach
It’s impossible to overstate the importance of jazz, an art form born and raised right here in the U.S. of A. It’s truly America’s music, and its evolution has mirrored our own cultural development, from the hot jazz that grew from ragtime as America began to reject Victorianism at the turn of the century, to…
Clubs 10/15/15 – 10/22/15
Goin’ South THE CLIFFS RESORT: 2757 Shell Beach Rd., Shell Beach, 773-5000, cliffsresort.com. F. MCLINTOCKS SALOON: Two locations: 750 Mattie Rd. in Pismo Beach and 133 Bridge St. in Arroyo Grande. 773-1892 or mclintocks.com. Live music at the Pismo Beach location every Fri. and Sat. from 6-9pm. Tennessee Jimmy Harrell and Doc Stoltey play on…
High time
Everyone’s doing it, so why not me too, right? “It’s easy,” they said. “No big deal.” So I thought, why not? So I jumped on the medical marijuana bandwagon and made up a fake ailment to get my hands on some o’ that dank green. It’s super easy to do. Go to the right doctor…
SLO County needs a temporary events ordinance
Jono Kinkade did suburb reporting related to SLO County deficiencies in addressing temporary events in “Trouble on the wine trail” (Oct. 8). The position to which county supervisors retreat, that the matter is too complex for a single solution, doesn’t seem valid in that other counties have the same issues along with functional ordinances. In…
The APCD should be held accountable
The Shredder got it right about how the majority on the Air Pollution Control District board, who are ironically anti-APCD, tampered with the APCD meeting minutes (Oct. 1, “Petty-note junction”). The public good is not served when saboteurs of government regulations (especially those regulations that protect public health) take away the public’s right to know…
Who can claim the pope?
Pope Francis’ address to Congress was remarkable in surprising ways, and especially relevant for the Central Coast. The pope exemplified four historical figures (“great Americans”) in calling for a more egalitarian and compassionate American society. Only one was a woman, but think about the woman the pope chose. First, consider one woman the pope might…
We need petroleum products but we don’t need oil in our county
The Oct. 8 commentary by Kenneth McCalip (“Cart before the horse”) was interesting to read. Some of the apocalyptic details relating to climate change and population growth are not quite factual, but the thrust of his arguments are surely in the right direction. Then, unfortunately, Mr. McCalip brings up Measure P. It would have been…
Junipero Serra brought Western civilization to the states
We, along with others, rejoice that Fr. Junipero Serra was declared a saint by the Catholic Church. The Spanish missionaries brought Western civilization with its many gifts to California and other Western states. All of us are the beneficiaries of beautiful Spanish architecture found here in California. They taught the natives about agriculture, introducing them…
Tighter gun control legislation won’t be enough
I, too, may like to see more gun control legislation to combat violent crime, even though the correlation between the two is rather weak. We see countries like Switzerland and Israel, for example, which have proportionally more gun owner households than the U.S., with a homicide rate a small fraction of ours. In our country,…
A few voices shouldn’t stand for the whole community
It’s no surprise that environmentalists are against any project concerning oil, but they have to realize that California has the most strict and stringent environmental regulations in the entire world. When you really get down to the numbers of it all, California boasts the eighth largest economy globally and we account for less than 1…
I support the Phillips 66 project
Misinformation has been tossed about regarding the safety of rail transport of crude oil to the Phillips 66 refinery in Nipomo. They have alarmed the community and misled them to oppose the Phillips 66 rail extension project. The opposition continues to fuel their campaign with sound bites and false information such as the project only…
