Hometown News Since 1889 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CXXX, NO. XLV
WEDNESDAY, APRIL 22, 2020
pasoroblespress.com • $1.00 • WEEKLY
ESSENTIAL HEROES: DR. PENNY BORENSTEIN AND WADE HORTON
SLO COUNTY’S DYNAMIC DUO
Dr. Penny Borenstein speaks from the podium at the SLO Joint Information Center on April 15. Photo by Connor Allen
SLO County Administrative Officer Wade Horton. Contributed
Local leaders make a significant impact as they in make decisions for SLO County By CONNOR ALLEN connor@pasoroblespress.com
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alifornia Governor Gavin Newsom signed an executive order on March 19 for Californians to stay home except for those deemed ‘essential’ in response to the COVID-19 outbreak. For the last 33 consecutive days, the people of California have looked to their leaders for instruction and direction. In these unprecedented times, many people lead the community, from nurses and doctors risking their lives to fight the virus, employees of an essential business who show up every day to make sure the community has food and resources, as well as all the small businesses that have entirely changed their operating systems to
serve the county and their neighbors. But no two people have had a greater impact or a greater weight to carry than County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein and County Administrative Officer and Director of Emergency Services Wade Horton. Together, Horton and Borenstein played a significant role in making decisions for SLO County — like sheltering at home and the closing of local businesses that have impacted every person in this community — and it’s not something that they have taken lightly. “I can say it was the most difficult decision I have ever made in my life,” Horton told The Atascadero News and The Paso Robles Press in an interview on Saturday. “And probably will be the most difficult decision I make in my life. I knew what the impact would be, or I thought I
knew what the impact would be and making that decision, I am just trying to do the right thing for what we need. Every day I am making a lot of decisions, and every day I make those decisions based off of the information I have and how I can do right by the community. It is a very humbling spot to be in.” Horton has served not only this county but also his country with 15 years of service in the reserves, including time overseas and was unanimously voted by the San Luis Obispo County Board of Supervisors to be the newest San Luis Obispo County Administrative Officer in November 2017. His counterpart Borenstein has a strong resume as well. “I have a nearly 30-year career of doing this work,” Dr. Borenstein said, who has spent time working in public
DOWNTOWN MAIN STREET ASSOCIATION
UNSINKABLE SPIRIT ON MAIN ST. By MARK DIAZ mark@pasoroblespress.com
LOCAL NEWS
REOPENING A COMMUNITY
Hopes and Concerns Rise as Reopening Takes Shape By NICHOLAS MATTSON nic@pasoroblespress.com
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Communities around California demand action plans from leadership
PASO ROBLES — The Paso Robles Downtown Main Street Association continues to support and encourage businesses during the COVID-19 Pandemic. For over 30 years, the organization has helped transform Paso Robles’ downtown into a thriving economic success. The association not only supports shops, boutiques, restaurants, and many locally owned businesses that generate sales tax revenue for the City but has supported the downtown development into a tourist destination. Now with the shelter at home orders, the association continues to offer its services to the
ensions across the country grind as the fears over coronavirus spreading subside due in large part by the sheltering efforts of the nation’s citizens, and other practices, directly result in a flattening of the curve. Reported cases of COVID-19 are finding a plateau, and discussions by governors about reopening
NORMA MOYE
reetings Readers, We feel compelled to deliver a letter to you, and what better place than the front page of the newspaper you have supported. This letter is a direct response to our current condition as a world, our relationship to our
health all over the county, including working in Washington D.C. during the Anthrax outbreak of 2001 and working in Maryland during the times of Ebola and SARS. “I am very much accustomed to the onset of a new disease or new situation that understandably causes great public concern, and I have been in the situation many times before having to help manage that concern with facts and our best understanding of the disease situation,” Borenstein stated. “Having said that, those situations and this one are very humbling. No manner of training or experience can prepare a public health position for a worst-case scenario because it is global in its scope, deep in its impact. As you have seen with this situation and
Letter to Our Readers
readers, and our ambitions moving through this pandemic and into the future ahead. We appreciate you. You are the reason we do what we do. You are the reason we can reach others who have yet to pick up their first edition of our news-
ENTERTAINMENT
paper and get their first glimpse into our community from the community voice that you have given to us. We all know that newspaper in its printed form has been under economic assault for more than a decade, and small town newspapers in California
COVID-19 NEWS
have been shuttered in past weeks due to the economic fallout of our community COVID-19 response. Our goal is to save our community by bringing the most accurate and informed articles to our readers, and to save our community newspaper by ensuring that we bring
SENIOR LIVING
states are met with small protests of people who demand a plan. Social media discussions rage between those who fear a resurgence of cases and those who reference further economic damage and curtailing of freedoms. “I typically refrain from commenting on Facebook,” Paso Robles resident Bob Rollins told The Paso Robles Press. “[But] there has got to be a better way and a CONTINUED ON PAGE A14
value to both our readers and to our advertisers. The past decade has been generous to news media companies with a wide variety of digital avenues for distribuCONTINUED ON PAGE A14
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