Cover Story
American dreaming
Huddled in the back of a dusty van stripped of its seats, the windows pulled tight against the dirt and cold, we congratulated ourselves heartily for having kept our minds and maintained possession of our backpack throughout the night, all the way till whatever time in the morning it was. Somewhere not far away, an…
Quintessential SLO
If I were asked to name one restaurant in this county that is quintessential San Luis Obispo, it would undoubtedly be Big Sky Cafe;. As a matter of fact, it was the first restaurant I dined in when my husband Dan introduced me to SLO in 1994. I found both this small college town and…
Wake up, it’s Sleepy!
Hop out of bed and open your ears to the latest CD by wide-awake local bluesman, Sleepy Guitar Johnson, titled The Mojo Sessions. Recorded, produced, and mixed by Denis Degher (Sleepy’s alter ego) at his Old School Ranch Studio in Paso Robles, the music pays homage to the early progenitors of good ol’ American blues…
A roundtable for writers
New Times How did you become a publisher? Stephen Blake Mettee, publisher I started publishing 15 years ago because I felt small press had a voice in the world and I love writers, and writers often have trouble getting their work published. I want to show them that it’s not a closed industry. New Times…
Artifacts
Sheer genius Discover the genius of Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance engineers, in San Jose, during a special excursion presented by the SLO Art Center taking place on Oct. 27. The Art Center will host a bus trip to the Tech Museum of Innovation during a one-day adventure to the world premier of Leonardo:…
Hornaday’s holons
A cell is a holon. So is an organ, and a person. Canvases are as well, even those that have been streaked with paint, according to Pacha Hornaday. The SLO-based artist, who originally hails from East Germany, first encountered the word in a passage of a book addressing the development of consciousness. From this she…
The theatre that is not a theatre
The maxim that good fences make good neighbors is generally sound advice. If you don’t want to know what goes on behind closed doors, don’t ask. In Anet and Charley Carlin’s case most people probably wouldn’t believe it anyway. On a bustling Thursday evening in August no fewer than 20 people rush throughout the couple’s…
What could be done to improve downtown?
Leanne Rothhammer retired “Less bars. More cafe /lunch spots where you can sit outside. It’s sad to see all the little shops going out of business because of the retrofitting.” Jim apRoberts painter, teacher, juggler, dog walker “Parking. That would be my number one priority. Perhaps get a shuttle system going.” Suzanne Nelson dental hygienist…
Shadow Canyon 2007 Rose
This strawberry-hued dry pink wine offers a taste of summer with its ripe flavors of strawberries, raspberries, and tangy cherry notes. But it needn’t be warm to enjoy this delightful and refreshing wine as an aperitif. It’s full bodied enough to enjoy with a wide variety of dishes: cold shellfish with aioli, chicken pasta salads,…
Stephen Ross 2007 Pinot Noir Central Coast
It’s way too early to drink 2007 Pinot Noirs, I’ll admit, but after tasting this recent release at their new tasting room in SLO I couldn’t resist opening a bottle at dinner. Nicely balanced and easy-drinking, this tasty wine seduces you with its fragrant black cherry, strawberry, and blueberry aromas and flavors, nuanced with…
Raise a glass to the stars
“It’s music you already know, you just didn’t know you knew it,” the director of the Pacific Repertory Opera, Mikele Hushing-Kline, observed. Opera can be found in movies, television shows, and recently in a Doritos commercial, she points out; “Opera’s everywhere. It’s omnipresent.” The Pacific Repertory Opera, whose slogan is “Opera for Everyone” will serenade…
Fast Facts:
The Arbor Day Foundation is offering a new tree identification guidebook. Titled, What Tree is That? the field guide is meant to “help the average person identify trees in a simple, step-by-step process.” What Tree is That? features beautiful full-color illustrations of America’s most popular trees. The guidebook has been praised by amateur, as well…
Corrections
An error was made in the Sept. 4 article “Chinatown” in regard to the planned location of a hotel in the proposed Chinatown development. Current plans for the building have placed its entrance on Palm Street. The Sept. 4 story, “Medical Crisis,” misreported the number of centers Community Health Centers of the Central Coast, Inc.…
Gravel miners may get to skip Planning Commission
A group of sand and gravel miners will get to lay out their case to SLO County supervisors for why they shouldn’t have to follow the county’s usual process. The board will consider the request at their Sept. 16 meeting. The Department of Planning and Building, however, recommends in a strongly worded report that the…
Los Osans raise a stink over sewage
An increasingly vocal group out of Los Osos is accusing SLO County of pushing the small bayside town toward a sewage system some do not want. They believe the county is leaning toward a gravity sewage transportation system, which, like its name says, uses gravity to transport sewage from homes to a treatment facility. But…
Other counties counting on Paso facility
Officials from Santa Barbara, San Luis Obispo, and San Benito counties will go before a state prison review panel Sept. 18 to convince the state to fund the construction of a tri-counties “prisoner re-entry facility” in Paso Robles. The idea behind the facility is to address the high rate at which released state prisoners commit…
County settles Sheriff eavesdropping case for $660,000
The County of San Luis Obispo has agreed to pay former Sheriff’s Deputy Gary Hoving $660,000 to settle an eavesdropping suit. In the civil lawsuit, filed last year, Sheriff Patrick Hedges and Undersheriff Steve Bolts were accused of illegally wiretapping Hoving’s office, violating his civil rights. The settlement will directly cost the county $250,000. The…
Not Home Anymore SLO
County Sheriff’s Deputy Peter Cramer cuts the lock off a trailer at the Sunny Acres treatment facility on Sept. 5. Enforcing a nuisance abatement order, county code officials condemned the trailers and replaced the locks to prevent residents from returning. For now, the residents who were in the trailers are living in tents on the…
Open-source politics
Can two voters, using nothing but their own talents, time, influence, and money, sway a presidential election? San Luis Obispo businessman Cliff Branch and Cal Poly alumnus David Riordan are determined to try. Success, they say, will mean seeing Barack Obama in the White House. The two longtime friends have launched a website, TwoVoters.com, which…
Suey Ranch falls under a microscope
When a majority of SLO County supervisors tentatively approved the transfer of 5,070 acres of prime SLO County agricultural land to Santa Barbara County, the decision puzzled many people. Supervisors Jerry Lenthall, Harry Ovitt, and Katcho Achadjian did not object to a petition by Suey Ranch owners H.D. and Carol Perrett to move a portion…
Never cry wolf
I’ve been looking for more excitement in my life, so I decided to try one of those aerial wolf-gunning trips that everyone was talking about before Republican VP hopeful Sarah Palin’s out-of-wedlock grandchild became the most interesting part of her campaign. After some clumsy clicking around online, I bought what I thought was a ticket…
Majid Bennis – Chef at Crepes de Provence
NEW TIMES: Where are you from? BENNIS: Morocco. NEW TIMES: What brought you to the U.S? BENNIS: I studied film in Europe and believed that anyone make it big in the American film industry, so I moved to New York and tried to work as a cameraman. I learned that I had a better chance…
Respect the faculty
I share the dismay of many of my colleagues regarding the Cal Poly administration’s attempts to discredit the senior faculty in Engineering who have raised concerns about their dean and his ill-advised collaboration with Jubail University in Saudi Arabia. These efforts at distraction fool no one, and set a poor example of informed debate for…
Where is the outrage?
When the Chinese government silenced the voice of dissent during the Olympics, the media and many Americans expressed outrage at their tactics. Now, when producers of the news show, Democracy Now, filming a peace march at the Republican National Convention, are manhandled and bloodied by law enforcement coordinated by the FBI, where are the media…
Urge the governor to sign SB 840
We can end the health-care crisis and California has the right plan do to it: SB 840 (Kuehl). A clear majority of California’s legislators approved it and a massive grass-roots movement is working hard to make sure the governor will sign it into law. The governor may say this bill would result in socialized medicine,…
Don’t Bach down
Charter Communications has abruptly dropped classical music radio station KUSC-FM, our only 24-hour classical music station. This is a huge disservice to a community hungry for classical music: Consider the sold-out attendance at the SLO Symphony, Mozart (Mosaic) Festival, Pacific Repertory Opera, and the Cal Poly Performing Arts Center. For a great many of us,…
Grow up, Palin
Is Sen. John McCain’s vice presidential running mate, Sarah Palin, breast-feeding her new baby, or is she just prancing around on stages with her baby in her arms to show the world that she can procreate? It is obvious to me that she has put her career first, over the feelings and the well being…
Don’t doubt Palin
A word to the critics who are questioning Sarah Palin’s ability to be a capable mother and hold a political office at the same time: I am a full-time employee, a mother of eight, and politically active as a member of one of our city’s advisory bodies. And all I have to say, as a…
Go Green
Regarding the opinion piece, “Be an informed voter” (Julie Rodewald, Sept. 4, 2008), I hope our community will become informed about the Green Party Presidential nominee, Cynthia McKinney. McKinney is a former six-term (Democratic) United States Congresswoman, from Georgia, who is now registered with the Green Party. She has a clear 12-year federal voting record.…
SLO health care is in crisis
I read your article, “Is there a doctor in the house?” (Sept. 4, 2008) with some pain. I’m a doctor, I live in San Luis Obispo County, and I don’t see how I can ever practice here again. I closed my office in 1998 and worked for the prison system until this year. At the…
Please forgive us
In response to Rory Kremer’s alleged mistreatment by a member of the Morro Bay Yacht Club, we would like to apologize (“Sail Away,” Letters, Aug. 28, 2008). Although this is very rare, with nearly 500 members, and hundreds of visitors, there are bound to be occasional personality conflicts. Mr. Kramer’s story about reaching Morro Bay…
Take precautions to avoid Lyme Disease
According to Duane Gubler, of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, insect-borne diseases were responsible for more human illness and death in the 17th to 20th centuries than all other causes combined.” Could a little, painless, bug bite devastate your life? The answer I can say with certainty is yes! I am a…
