Cover Story
Farmworkers with 401Ks
It’s noon on the final day of this year’s wine-grape harvest, and Berta Mendoza and Maria Cerna eat their homemade tacos, sharing stories and laughing together as they sit in the shade in an unusual trailer parked at the edge of an Edna Valley vineyard. It beats crouching in the dirt in the hot sun…
My denture adventure
Dental insurance through my job is expensive but well worth it. Twice now it’s completely paid for a comprehensive exam and full set of x-rays that have definitively established I cannot afford to have my teeth fixed. Both estimates for the work I need came in around $12,000 with the good news that the…
RAGG redux
RAGG’s the band that takes a licking and keeps on ticking … like a time bomb that will explode awesome goth metal music all over your Halloween night. Ka-boom! They’ve been around for years and years, gone through more band members than fictional groupie Penny Lane, been sued, been stewed, won awards, been to…
How do you deal with an emotional break up?
Mary Clare Zovich retired “I think you get busy and go do something. Get out and go to the beach. Don’t sit around and think about yourself. It works for me; it has for 73 years.” Don Grant retired professor “Find a new one.” Cynthia Polk tattoo artist “I tattoo myself.” Brentley Williams server “I…
Sites to behold: Etsy.com
I’m not entirely certain what an etsy is, but if you’re in the market to buy or sell handcrafted or vintage treasures, etsy.com is not just a resource, it’s THE resource. Items are grouped into more than 30 categories including accessories, art, bags and purses, bath and beauty, books and zines, crochet, furniture, geekery, holidays,…
Wish you were here
Apparently cancer is so scary people don’t even want to donate funds to stop it. Despite several barely dressed, heart-stoppingly gorgeous models, delicious food (I’m marrying that lamb stew!), and all kinds of edgy cool (I’m at a freakin’ tattoo parlor, for heck’s sake), attendees are tragically sparse at this week’s “Art Bash!”-featured event. But…
Gather, garner, glean, harrow
One month, start from scratch, and paint San Luis. It is new paintings, so it’s not just another show of our old work.” Artist and writer Eric Soderquist, his scruffy, golden beard hanging long, defines what Art Harvest is all about. Within the ruins of the old Moondoggies board shop location in SLO is…
Sometimes in SLO
San Luis Obispo’s Language of the Soul poetry festival is getting a running start into its second quarter century of life with a change of operation that brings the festival more in line with others that take place around the state. For the first time, the city’s poet laureate will serve a two-year rather than…
No random drug testing for cops
Many jobs these days require random drug testing: If you want to drive a bus in San Luis Obispo county, get ready for random drug tests. If you are a firefighter, you can be tested at any time during the first two years of employment. If you drive a limousine, a taxi, or an ambulance,…
Tumors and sex changes: part deux
I In spring of 2008, scientists from Cal Poly discovered that about 10 percent of goby fish collected in Morro Bay were plagued by bulbous liver tumors. At the time they hypothesized the gobies were being poisoned by sewage runoff and a common chemical found in everything from detergents to spermicides. After some preliminary research,…
Setback for skate park
Local skaters and park officials raising money for a concrete skate park in San Luis Obispo were denied a major grant—just the latest setback in what has become a long, frustrating process to upgrade the deteriorating park. On Oct. 23, SLO Parks and Recreation officials learned the city wasn’t awarded a $200,000 grant from…
Nurses’ strike on hold
A statewide nurses’ strike set for Oct. 30 will not go forward but negotiations are said to be ongoing. The strike would have affected both Arroyo Grande Community Hospital and French Hospital Medical Center. The California Nurses Association/National Nurses Organizing Committee has been negotiating with Catholic Healthcare West, the largest hospital system in the…
I would gladly pay you Tuesday
The latest financial stunt in California seems a no-brainer for local governments, but it still doesn’t make much sense to those involved. “If we can get the money today, why can’t the state?” Supervisor Frank Mecham asked at the Oct. 27 SLO County Board of Supervisors meeting. Mecham was asking a question few…
Cities hang medical pot out to dry
Citing worries that medical marijuana breeds criminal activity, Atascadero City Council members voted unanimously to extend a temporary ban on medical marijuana dispensaries through September 2010. In the interim, city officials made it clear that they want to draft a permanent prohibition on dispensaries. The final vote was 4-0, with Councilman Bob Kelley absent,…
Diablo Canyon had an undetected problem for 19 months
Two switches had been misaligned for 19 months at the Diablo Canyon Nuclear Power Plant, tests revealed last week. The error could have made it difficult for operators to cool the reactor had there had been a reactor emergency, a Nuclear Regulatory Commission official said. The misaligned switches could have prevented a back-up cooling…
Children should get flu vaccine first
It is absolutely disgusting that the state vaccinated the inmates at ASH while our children, my children, are still on waiting lists for the vaccine. This is a deadly flu! Children are the number one group affected by it. ASH’s response that getting the staff and the patients vaccinated there actually does a lot of…
Trees should have been spared
Please excuse this Englishman for interfering in American and Californian affairs but as the Chairman of Friends of the Earth Marine Reserves Network (Marinet) I would like to comment on the destruction of trees in Shell Beach that provided roosting sites for cormorants. Decisions can be given with little thought to their historic importance…
Visions portend solutions in Los Osos
In early 2006, after long involvement with sewer issues, I sought to create a mental pastoral scene for meditation. This was an attempt to draw positive energy to myself, the people, and the landscape of Los Osos. Immediately after closing my eyes, two visions appeared lasting two seconds each; three-dimensional, in color, live, still—not…
Build the sewer, already!
New Times gave Lisa Schicker yet another opportunity to reveal her unrealistic take on reality in Los Osos (“Sewer project would dispossess many Los Osos homeowners,” Oct. 22). There is no turning back, so start moving forward, Lisa. Get this thing in the ground and for once and for all, put this horrific nightmare to bed.…
Where’s the evidence?
Lisa Shicker’s opinion piece (“Sewer project would dispossess many Los Osos home owners,” Oct. 22) adds to her teetering stack of allegations about how everyone else (but she) is to blame for the Los Osos sewer mess. She says sewer charges will force 40 percent of the residents and businesses to leave town. All of…
Sewer expense is unavoidable
Oh, boo-hoo, Ms. Schicker (“Sewer project would dispossess many Los Osos home owners,” Oct. 22). So, the Cassandra of the Cesspool feels unappreciated and persecuted. As one of the more recent neinsagers-in-chief and prophets of doom for Los Osos, she should not be surprised. It is precisely because of people like her that the constant…
Marching for health
Say it in a whisper: bipolar, schizophrenia, depression, obsessive compulsive, post-traumatic stress, borderline personality. But on Saturday, Oct. 3, sponsors, donors, businesses, volunteers, families, and loved ones throughout the county spoke out! More than 160 walkers attended the first annual National Alliance on Mental Illness, San Luis Obispo County (NAMI SLOCO) “Beautiful Minds Walk” and…
DeCicco coverage appreciated
Thanks to Colin Rigley for his article on the DeCicco project in Cayucos (“DeCicco fights a two-front battle,” Oct. 15). I found the reporting to be objective, as responsible journalism should be. This is in contrast to the KSBY report by Stacy Daniel posted Oct. 9 on the KSBY web page. In her story, DeCicco…
Money talked
Sadly, the Cal Poly administration put money ahead of academic freedom (“Controversy erupts over Michael Pollan’s Poly lecture,” Oct. 8). It was a bad example to set before students. John Harris, owner of Harris Ranch Beef, and David E. Wood, the company chairman, successfully wave their checkbooks to deny agribusiness critic Michael Pollan a…
A matter of choice
In the matter of Michael Pollan (“Controversy erupts over Michael Pollan’s Poly lecture,” Oct. 8), the administration of Cal Poly was faced with a simple, clear choice: whether to risk depriving the students of a much needed educational facility, or to teach by example (a fundamental axiom of the university)—in other words, whether principles should…
What possessed Cal Poly to pick Gary Smith?
I am dumbfounded why the Cal Poly faculty and administration selected Gary Smith as the representative voice of agribusiness interests for the panel discussion with Michael Pollan at the university. Having attended the event and spoken with Smith, I have some deep concerns. Clearly there was impetus to appease a distraught Harris Ranch Beef…
Save our wildlife
Pacific Wildlife Care is the only organization that rescues and rehabilitates wildlife locally. From the start of this year to Oct. 20, they took in 1,331 wild animals. The number of rescues has dramatically increased since the group opened its wildlife rehabilitation center in Morro Bay in Spring 2007. They received more than 1100 animals…
It’s torture
Ah, Halloween: that wonderful time of year when kids won’t leave me alone no matter how many questionable caramels I pass out. Maybe this year I’ll have to come up with more inventive ways to scare and belittle. When it comes to torture, what better place to find inspiration than Guantanamo Bay? That’s where…
Josh Cohen
NEW TIMES: Have many people purchased bikes lately? COHEN: The back-to-school rush was quite a bit better than last year’s. As for the actual number of bikes sold, I don’t know off the top of my head. We were noticeably busier this year than last year, especially over the summer months. I know more people…
Lockwood 2007 Pinot Noir Block 7 Monterey
This tasty Pinot expresses its cool-climate origin, providing a tasty Pinot that’s delicious alone and quite food friendly. It was a dry but chilly vintage for Monterey that resulted in smaller-than-usual crops. Aged in French oak 10 months, it’s nicely balanced and quite delicious at such a young age. I enjoyed its forward fruit flavors…
SLO’s first Chinese noodle house
The first point I must make is that SLO natives need to know the opening of Mee Heng Low Noodle House should not be confused with the original Mee Heng Low opened by the Gin family. The early version was open during the time when SLO actually had a “Chinatown.” Locals keep popping in hoping…
