GOOD NEWS REAL NEWS HOMETOWN NEWS
SINCE 1916 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CV, NO. X
THURSDAY, MARCH 17, 2022
EDUCATION
atascaderonews.com • $1.00 • WEEKLY
MARATHON
Community Split Over Comments Made Last School Board Meeting Board recognized Paloma Creek High School for being a Model Continuation High School By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
ATA S C A D E R O — Atascadero Unified School District (AUSD) met for their regularly scheduled board meeting on Tuesday, March 15, at 7 p.m. following their 6 p.m. Closed Session. Paloma Creek High School was recognized for being a Model Continuation High School. Principal Dr. Libby Madding gave a presentation on all of the school’s achievements this year that earned CONTINUED ON PAGE A16
Racer shares a wave as he participates in the Spartan Race last weekend in Santa Margarita, running through a vineyard as a part of the course. Contributed photo
Spartan Race Comes to North County
After being postponed in 2020, the obstacle event was held in Santa Margarita By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
SANTA MARGARITA — Over 8,000 racers from all over the world showed up at the Spartan Race in Santa Margarita on March 12 and 13. The race originally was to take place in March of 2020 and finally made its
North County appearance after being shut down due to initial COVID lockdowns. “We set the course up, everyone was ready to go, and pretty much the day before the event went off, we ended up having to pull it because of COVID,” said Spartan’s Head of Media, Christine De La Rosa-Stotz, of the 2020 Spartan Race. Local racers, racers from all over the United States, and racers worldwide participate in Spartan Races. March
12 racers competed in the 12k BEAST with 30 obstacles or the 50K ULTRA with 60 obstacles. March 13, the 10K SUPER with 25 obstacles took place. There was also a 1-3k kids race with smaller obstacles on both days. “Every single time that we come to an event it’s amazing. You get to see the community here. You get to kind of see; it’s just something that you can’t really explain about coming to a Spartan Race until you actually come. It’s just a general kind of feeling you get
when you walk up on the course, and you start to see all the racers getting ready. Everybody’s seeing each other, meeting each other for the first time, or a lot of people, obviously, who race all the time with us, they’re seeing their friends. It’s a really good vibe as soon as you walk up. It’s such a nice moment to take it all in and be able to see everybody for the first time after a while,” De La Rosa-Stotz said of getting everyone back together CONTINUED ON PAGE A16
COMMUNITY
EDUCATION
Atascadero Kiwanis Remodels North County Kitchen for Meals That Connect The project was completed in early February 2022 By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
ATASCADERO — At the beginning of the year, the Kiwanis Club of Atascadero donated a complete kitchen remodel to Meals That Connect. The project was completed in a week, and the kitchen at the Atascadero Senior Citizens Center (which is used by Meals That Connect in the North County) was completed in early February 2022. Many members of Kiwanis help Meals That Connect deliver meals to local homebound individuals. Including the elderly, physically disabled, veterans, and wives and widows of veterans. That’s how Kiwanians Tony Villa, Glen Casey, and Ben Mendoza
EDUCATION
uncovered and spearheaded the remodel. “Ben Mendoza, who owns Mendoza Meat — he’s also a Kiwanian — asked me to go in and take a look at the kitchen, and it needed a lot of work,” said Kiwanian Tony Villa. Though most of the food is cooked in the main Meals That Connect kitchen in San Luis Obispo (SLO), lots of prep work, packaging, and the heating of food happens in Atascadero before being delivered to the people who need it in our community. “Our focus, generally is the youth, but when we see something that needs to be done in the community, we go ahead and do it,” said Glen Casey, who’s in charge of Community Services at Kiwanis. Liz D unn, the North County site manager for Meals That Connect, was asked by Villa what she would wish for if she had a wishlist. Dunn simply asked for
COMMUNITY
Three TUSD Trustees Face Recall Yamagata, Swan, and Dubost were handed letters of intent at the last school board meeting
Liz Dunn with Kiwanis Club volunteers in her remodeled kitchen. Contributed photo
help cleaning and painting the kitchen space, but Villa decided that wasn’t enough and took the kitchen remodel project to Kiwanis. After a trip to the site by Casey, Mendoza, and Villa, it was decided that the entire kitchen would be remodeled, free of charge. “So what we did, we did a complete removal of everything in the kitchen. Put new floors down, replaced some
COUNTY
sheetrock that was necessary, brought in new countertops, brought in new cabinets. We were able to ascertain two industrial stainless steel sinks. So we did a complete revamp of the whole kitchen area. From floors to everything,” added Villa. The Atascadero Kiwanis Club currently has close to 100 members, and 28 of the members worked and contrib-
EVENTS
uted to the project. “Getting people involved with something as important as this is a really, really good feeling,” said Casey. Casey had a relationship with the people at Home Depot from a previous project. And when prompted, Kiwanis put together a grant proposal to Home Depot to help with the project. But, sadly, they CONTINUED ON PAGE A16
By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@atascaderonews.com
TEMPLETON — Three Templeton Unified School Board (TUSD) trustees were handed letters notifying them of the intent to file for their recall from the Board. The board meeting was held on Thursday, Mar. 10, in the Eagle Canyon board room. CONTINUED ON PAGE A16
SECTION
atascaderonews.com twitter.com/ @AtascaderoNews facebook.com/ @AtascaderoNews
PALOMA CREEK HIGH Gifts garden shed made by students | A3
ECHO’S EMPTY BOWLS SUPERVISORS MOVE CHARLES PADDOCK ZOO Annual event coming Toward repealing housing 8th annual “Brew at the back April 28 | A4 ordinance | A5 Zoo” | A15
High 72° | Low 36°
SUPPORT LOCAL
JOURNALISM
5
67808 24135
e Scan her arted! t s t e g o t
HELP YOUR BUSINESS TAKE FLIGHT!
Not only do you have the power to choose the subscription that fits your life, but when you advertise, you will broaden your reach into target markets throughout the Central Coast, from Ventura County to Monterey County!
Subscribe & Advertise with
atascaderonews.com (805) 466-2585 office@13starsmedia.com
7