October 2014 Journal Plus

LARRY MYRICK | GAVINO VILLA | JOSH AND CORRIN LEPELL | PETE KELLEY

Journal OCTOBER 2014

MAGAZINE OF THE CENTRAL COAST

PLUS

SLO SYMPHONY AND FRIENDS HONOR

JOAN SARGEN

805-543-2172

805-904-6616

www.farrellsmyth.com

21 Santa Rosa Street #100 San Luis Obispo

110 E. Branch Street Arroyo Grande

www.1300-17thStreet.com

www.167Vintage.com

Larry D. Smyth

Jennifer Hamilton

Owner/Broker

Relocation Director

Lovely, move-in ready single-level home. Exceptional remodel 1-2 years ago: Brand new furnace and AC unit. Kitchen is sparkling Linda Aiello-Madison clean & updated. Huge master bedroom suite. Exterior has new Broker-Associate paint. This home awaits new owners who desire great quality and updates for their money! $348,900

LARGE Modular home, built in 2009, on permanent foundation features 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, living room, dining room, inside laundry room, pantry and large kitche. Master bath has separate shower and soaker tub. Vaulted ceiling throughout, low maintenance yard makes for very spacious and roomy family home or grate vacation home. $430,000

Ken Arritt

Valerie Simpson

Broker-Associate

Twila Arritt

REALTOR®

www.fairwayshome.com

www.558Bakeman.com

Broker-Associate

Simone Viola

REALTOR®

Super cute and spacious Twin Home with over 1500 sq ft of living space.

There is a private front court yard, a private rear arbor and a bonus covered patio area. Maintenance Free Yard, fruit trees and absolutely No Association Fees. It is conveniently located, just minutes from shopping, beaches, and championship golf courses. This 3 bedroom home is awaiting new owners seeking the Central Coast lifestyle! $449,000

The Fairways at Blacklake. Bring your golf clubs and enjoy life on the Central Coast. Spacious floorplan with two very private master suites. Three sliding glass doors open onto patio and backyard. Skylights, dual pane windows. Easy care yard and fenced... perfect for your pets. Golf cart garage. Great opportunity to live in this highly sought after golf course community. $449,000

www.688HoneyGroveLane.com

www.ZinVineyard.com

Mary Rosenthal REALTOR®

Carol Beard

Laura Pyzer

Pamela Bliss

Penny Parrish

REALTOR®

REALTOR®

Broker-Associate

REALTOR®

Beautiful single level 4 bedroom home in Nipomo. Featuring 2351 sqft of living space, Granite Counter tops, walk-in pantry and Alder cabinets throughout. Vaulted ceilings, bay windows & gated front courtyard. A place to call home! $549,000

Theresa Carroll

3 acres of Dry Farmed Zinfandel. Low maintenance, high quality grapes for the farmer. High visibility from both Nacimiento Lake & Adelaida Rds great opportunity to be the first wine tasting room/ small family garage based winery. Everything was built with low maintenance in mind. Owner will carry financing. $1,100,000

REALTOR®

Jerry Collins REALTOR®

Deane Naylor REALTOR®

Paddy Doron REALTOR®

Patricia Garrison REALTOR®

Vicky Hall REALTOR®

David Hamilton REALTOR®

Linda Irigaray Broker-Associate

Annette Mullen REALTOR®

Pediatrics

Internal Medicine

Family Medicine

Julie Anselmo, MD Michelle Auran, MD Tamara Battle, MD Rene Bravo, MD Kara Bryden, MD James Coryell, MD Karen Fong, MD* William Haug, MD Wanda Lo, MD Richard Macias, MD William Morgan, MD Michael McNerney, MD Mary Nave, MD Brian Patterson, MD Dale Rowland, MD Sasha Szytel, MD Jeffrey Thompson, MD Sharon Watson, MD Amy Webb, MD

Jeffrey Bloom, MD Gayle Cekada, MD* Deborah Cherry, MD* Grace Crittenden, MD Megan Ellman, MD Julie Fallon, MD* Karen Fong, MD* Lewis Gamarra, MD Jana Hanson, MD* Mary Lowery, MD Steven McAllen, MD Mack McFarlane, MD Robert Schingler, MD Kenneth Shapiro, MD Stephen Sigmund, MD Steven Smith, MD Patricia Snyder, MD* Michael Steele, MD Ardeshir Talieh, MD* Tiffany Taylor, DO Nushrat Ullah, MD

Jonathan Lien, MD Andrea Angelucci, DO Laurence Lotz, MD Joseph Bettencourt, MD Than Luu, MD Blanca Bisuna, MD Frank Mazzone, MD Ethan Breen, DO Hendrik Breytenbach, MD* Scott Negri, MD Lawrence Newman, MD Mary Brown, MD Amanthi Chandrasena, MD Karen Roberts, MD Steven Sabo, MD Joseph Cruz, MD* Michael Silvas, MD John Davis, MD* Randall Silver, MD Scott Davis, MD Paul Swedberg, MD Eric Dunlop, DO Anna Talarico, MD Faith Frankel, MD* Matthew Talarico, MD Warren Frankel, MD Patrick Vaughan, MD* Steven Goodman, MD Wendy Weiss, DO Scott Greaves, MD Patrick Welch, DO Jonathan Hamrick, MD Klyda White, DO James Harrison, MD Ellen Yankauskas, MD Donella Jenkins, MD Geoffrey Kamen, MD *Existing patients only Michael Lebens, MD Gordon Lemm, MD*

To find out how you can become a CCPN member call 1-800-604-8752 or visit www.ccpnhpn.com.

San Luis Obispo • Pismo Beach • Templeton • Atascadero Los Osos • Morro Bay • Arroyo Grande • Paso Robles

CONTENTS

Journal PLUS MAGAZINE OF THE CENTRAL COAST

The People, Community, and Business of Our Beautiful Central Coast ADDRESS

654 Osos Street San Luis Obispo California 93401

14

PETE KELLEY

PHONE 805.546.0609 E-MAIL slojournal@fix.net WEBSITE www.slojournal.com

EDITOR & PUBLISHER Steve Owens ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Erin Mott GRAPHIC DESIGNER Dora Mountain COPY EDITOR Susan Stewart PHOTOGRAPHER Tom Meinhold DISTRIBUTION Keith Malcomson, Kyle Owens

8

16

LARRY MYRICK

MARIANNE KENNEDY

ADVERTISING Jan Owens CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Susan Stewart, Natasha Dalton, Joseph Carotenuti, Dr. Julian Crocker, Sarah Hedger, Maggie Cox, Will Jones, Deborah Cash, Heather Young, Richard Bauman, Rebecca Juretic, Patti Taylor, Dan Carpenter, James Statler, Charmaine Coimbra, Amy Jensen, Stacey Hunt and Roxanne Carr.

Mail subscriptions are available at $20 per year. Back issues are $2 each. Inquires concerning advertising or other information made by writing to Steve Owens, JOURNAL PLUS MAGAZINE, 654 Osos Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. You can call us at 546-0609, our fax line is 546-8827, and our e-mail is slojournal@fix.net. View the entire magazine on our website at www.slojournal.com JOURNAL PLUS MAGAZINE is a free monthly distributed to over 600 locations throughout the Central Coast and is also available online at slojournal.com Editorial submissions are welcome but are published at the discretion of the publisher. Submissions will be returned if accompanied by a stamped self addressed envelope. No material published in the magazine can be reproduced without written permission.

Opinions expressed in the byline articles are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the JOURNAL PLUS MAGAZINE. Cover photo by Tom Meinhold

PEOPLE 8 10 12 14 16

LARRY MYRICK GAVINO VILLA JOSH AND CORRIN LEPELL PETE KELLEY MARIANNE KENNEDY

HOME & OUTDOOR 18 20 22 24 26 27

OPERA SLO—Verdi’s Aida SLO ACCESS HOOD ORNAMENTS FOOD / AT THE MARKET

COMMUNITY 28 29 30 32 34 36 42

OUR SCHOOLS—Dr. Julian Crocker BIONEERS CONFERENCE LA LOMA ADOBE PROJECT HISTORY: Happy Birthday SLO ... AGAIN SOUPABRATION! PALM STREET SLO Councilman Carpenter COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

BUSINESS

37 DOWNTOWN SLO What’s Happening 41 MORTGAGE FACTS 46 EYE ON BUSINESS

SLO ART SCENE—SLO Museum of Art Events SLO ART SCENE—Artist, Erin Hanson

O C T O B E R

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COMING UP AT THE

PERFORMING ARTS CENTER GET THE LED OUT

CIRQUE ZUMA ZUMA

October 01 | 7:30 p.m.

October 17 | 7:00 p.m.

Christopher Cohan Center

Christopher Cohan Center

Presented by Cal Poly Arts

Presented by Cal Poly Arts

REEL ROCK October 02 | 7:00 p.m.

MET LIVE IN HD: LE NOZZE DI FIGARO

Christopher Cohan Center

October 18 | 9:55 a.m.

Presented by SLO Op Climing

Christopher Cohan Center Presented by Cal Poly Arts & Opera SLO

BASETRACK LIVE

THE STEPCREW

October 04 | 8:00 p.m.

October 21 | 7:30 p.m.

Alex & Faye Spanos Theatre

Christopher Cohan Center

Presented by Cal Poly Arts

Presented by Cal Poly Arts

CLASSICS IN THE COHAN: MEET THE RED VIOLIN

CAL POLY PARENT & FAMILY WEEKEND ENSEMBLE SHOWCASE

October 04 | 8:00 p.m.

October 24 | 8:00 p.m.

Christopher Cohan Center

Christopher Cohan Center

Presented by SLO Symphony

Presented by Cal Poly Arts

AIDA

THE DUNWELLS

October 11 | 7:00 p.m.

October 24 | 8:00 p.m.

October 12 | 2:00 p.m.

Alex & Faye Spanos Theatre

Christopher Cohan Center

Presented by Cal Poly Arts

Presented by Opera SLO

BRANFORD MARSALIS

MET LIVE IN HD: MACBETH

October 15 | 7:30 p.m.

October 26 | 2:00 p.m.

Christopher Cohan Center

Christopher Cohan Center

Presented by Cal Poly Arts

Presented by Cal Poly Arts & Opera SLO

BECOME

DIAVOLO

October 17 & 18 | 7:00 p.m.

October 28 | 7:30 p.m.

Alex & Faye Spanos Theatre

Christopher Cohan Center

Presented by CORE Dance Company

Presented by Cal Poly Arts

WWW.PACSLO.ORG | 805-756-4TIX (4849)

From the publisher

O

ur cover this month features Joan Sargen leading the SLO Symphony at the Pops Concert last month. Friends and family put together a group that purchased the prestigious baton to honor Joan (some

of that group is pictured above). She continues to be one of the major supporters of our Symphony and several other non-profits as well. We profiled Joan a couple years ago listing several of her philanthropic deeds. Fun was had by all at the Pops and a well-deserved honor for Joan.

Congratulations Joan on a job well-done.

Marianne Kennedy has been directing the Women’s Shelter Program for many years and will be honored this month for her dedicated work by the Community Counseling Center. You’ll enjoy her story inside.

We also profile four more people who make a difference.

We start out with the newly named Civil Air Patrol Director, Larry Myrick. We move on to the local Bamboo King, Gavino Villa and Granite Specialists, Josh and Corrin LePell. We finish up with the famous local restaurateur, Pete Kelley.

Opera SLO is presenting Verdi’s Aida and Patti Taylor updates us on the newly formed group, Friends of the La Loma Adobe, and their future plans.

Plenty of good reading again this month.

Steve Owens

A proud tradition of serving our community for over 30 years

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Private retreat nestled

SAN LUIS OBISPO – This home is a must see.

Shows like a model. Ideally located on a quiet street near French and Islay Parks, shopping, and the Los Ranchos School District. Very warm floor plan, updated kitchen, vaulted ceilings, natural light, skylights, big master bedroom and bath. This will go fast. 4 bedroom, 3 bathroom and nearly 2600 square feet with a beautifully landscaped backyard. Over 30K for upgrades since last purchase, including a new roof. 3rd bay of garage is currently used as a bonus room and not included in square footage. $839,900 #3245

between Terrace Hill & the Historic Railroad district on a large corner parcel, this home features 3 bedrooms + large study, 2.5 baths & over 2100 sq. ft. Large brick wood burning fireplace with built in seating, the kitchen is a chef’s dream, and the master suite is flooded with natural light & features 2 large closets & plantation shutters. The most amazing aspect of this property is that it offers multiple areas in which to retreat. One can chase the sun or find the shade but each location remains very private. This is a must see! $749,900 #3240

Fabulous Location

AVILA BEACH – Outstanding leased investment opportunity in Avila Beach. Rare opportunity to own a commercial condo with great exposure. Only one block from the beach and directly across from public parking. Tenant has signed new lease effective 8/1/2014. This location is just steps to the beach, hotels, golfing and wine tasting. $550,000 #3242

SAN LUIS OBISPO – Across from Laguna Lake! This three bedroom, two bath home is on an over-sized corner lot, featuring professional landscaping and a beautiful deck.

Freshly painted and new carpeting throughout plus bamboo flooring in one of the bedrooms.

A great house for entertaining and an extra sun room that adds additional space with an indoor/outdoor feel. Two-car attached garage.

Close to parks & hiking trails, golf course, schools and shopping. $595,000 #3235

AVILA BEACH – More upgrades than will fit into this space, complete remodel 1 year ago, all counters are granite, new kitchen cabinets, floors, walls, electrical upgrades, plumbing, new Kohler bathroom fixtures, new tiled showers, list goes on and on. Must see to appreciate. $725,000 #3238

Move In Ready SAN LUIS OBISPO – So much charm and potential with the 3 bedroom, 1 bath Mediterranean style home. The way the interior is designed leaves your imagination running wild with possibilities. Large rear fenced yard and deck. Detached 2 car garage with extra long driveway. $495,000 #3208

PASO ROBLES – Fantastic opportunity to purchase this 4 bedroom 3 bath home in Paso Robles. Open floor plan, wrap around front porch, large open living area upstairs and master bedroom located downstairs. Formal separate living room and dining room, plenty of cabinet space and great center island in the kitchen. $489,000 #3244

ARROYO GRANDE – Welcome to Canyon Country! Beautiful Verde Canyon only minutes to SLO, Arroyo Grande and Pismo Beach.

This 5 acre parcel has stunning oaks and an existing well, ready for your custom home to be constructed. Verde Canyon is very private with only a handful of home and ranches Come take a drive and see for yourself. Local lender financing available to qualified buyer. $499,000 #3146

For more information on these and other Real Estate Group of SLO listings call us at

805.541.2888

962 Mill Street • San Luis Obispo, California 93401 • www.RealEstateGroup.com

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PEOPLE

Brigadier General

larry f. myrick local man earns national post in civil air patrol

By Susan Stewart

W

hen Larry Myrick gets up in the morning and faces himself in the bathroom mirror, he reminds himself of two things: “I am in control of what kind of day I’ll have,” he thinks. And “Let’s do the right thing, even when people aren’t looking.”

These two caveats were not always a part of Myrick’s lexicon. When asked, he describes a childhood so different from his adulthood, it’s difficult to fathom that today, Myrick is the former owner of a prestigious engineering firm responsible for building some of our county’s most well-known landmarks, and a one-star Brigadier General recently named National Vice Commander of Civil Air Patrol (CAP).

Founded in 1941, and federally chartered as a nonprofit corporation in 1946, Civil Air Patrol has been “supporting America’s communities with emergency response, diverse aviation and ground services, youth development, and promotion of air, space and cyber power.” So says its mission statement. Myrick became a member in 1987, participating in more than 100 emergency services and rising through the ranks until his formal appointment to National Vice Commander in August of this year.

Born and raised in Los Angeles County during the 1950s, Myrick and his older sister Carol grew up in “shorts and T-shirt weather.” But the idyllic Southern California weather did nothing for the stutter Myrick suffered from, nor the quiet shy demeanor he developed as a result. “I could hardly say my name,” he explained. “I did math pretty well, but I couldn’t read or speak very well. And I learned slowly.”

Myrick spent his junior and senior high school years in remedial classes. He managed to graduate in 1969 near the middle of his class, after which he enrolled at El Camino Junior College.

“I had no plans, no ambitions,” he said. “I didn’t want to go to work, and I didn’t want to go to war.”

Larry Myrick and his wife, Peggy.

So it was at El Camino that he met a counselor who directed him to a course in heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration. That course led to a series of successes that culminated in a move to San Luis Obispo where he graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Engineering Technology in 1975.

Right out of college, Myrick moved to Northern California where he worked first for Lockheed and later for a small consulting firm in Cupertino. The owner of that company was friends with San Luis Obispo architect John Ross (of Ross & Levine) who hired Myrick’s firm to design for their buildings. They eventually opened a branch office in San Luis Obispo, and in 1989, Myrick met Keith Brummel who owned a mechanical engineering firm in Atascadero. Together, they formed Brummel, Myrick & Associates and built it into the largest, most respected firm in the region, with such projects as The Downtown Centre, Court Street, Vina Robles Winery, the French Hospital expansion and several local schools to its credit.

In 1987, Myrick joined Civil Air Patrol. A rated instrument pilot, he was operationally qualified as an Incident Commander and Master Observer. He began by commanding at CAP’s squadron, group, wing, and region levels. Over time, he moved steadily up the ranks, finishing up as Pacific Region Commander from 2009 to 2013, and advisor to National Commander/CEO Major General Charles L. Carr, Jr. Carr’s successor is Major General Joseph R. Vazquez who hand-selected Myrick as his Vice-Commander in an unprecedented move. It’s the first time in CAP’s 73-year history that the organization’s National Commander/CEO has selected the Vice Commander.

“And,” said Myrick, “it’s unusual for anyone on the West Coast to be part of command. Most of the time they come from Back East.”

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near the Carrissa Plain. “Most of my stories don’t have happy endings,” he said.

Four years ago, Myrick was asked by the Cal Poly ME department to teach a senior mechanical engineering course (ME 456), HVAC Duct Design and Hydronic, which he has been doing for the last four years now. “Funny how things sometimes come full circle,” he said.

The future holds more traveling, something he and Peggy (herself a Lt. Colonel with CAP) enjoy very much. And of course, he plans to continue the course he has set at CAP. Myrick is in line for the top job at CAP in three years and he hopes to set a 10-year direction if he gets the command. “There are no guarantees,” he said, but the trajectory is a positive one.

Myrick in discussion with Abel Maldonado

Myrick was surprised and thrilled to receive the post and was overcome with emotion during his swearing in ceremony two months ago. His wife Peggy and his daughter Becky were both present when the 800 people in the room stood and cheered. “The energy was electric,” he said.

This year, Myrick sold his shares in Brummel Myrick & Associates to his employees. Now he acts a consultant while he assumes his new duties at CAP. It’s Myrick’s job to lead the members of CAP and those at the squad level in accomplishing its three missions. Over the years, he has run many search and rescue missions, including saving the life of a pilot whose plane had crashed

Mike Clark City Council

And the stutter? Long gone. In the early years of his career, Myrick signed on to be a Little League coach in Cupertino for a team of 8-year-olds. “They don’t care that you stutter,” said Myrick. “They just like it that you are out there playing with them, paying attention to them. I stopped caring what people think.” He started speaking in front of audiences with soccer parents. Over time, his stutter diminished and then disappeared. Today, he speaks to audiences numbering 500 to 700 people at a time.

Today, Larry Myrick is no longer the victim of a debilitating stutter.

He lives every day deciding what kind of day he’ll have. And as the newest Vice Commander of Civil Air Patrol, he has ample opportunity to do the right thing, even when no one is looking.

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805.541.3111 | www.advwireonline.com | 800.660.3178 O C T O B E R

2014

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PEOPLE

gavino villa

a Bambusero from Paso Robles

By Natasha Dalton A man should plant a tree, build a house, and raise a child—a proverb Gavino Villa grew up in Half Moon Bay—a small town in the Bay Area known for its horticulture.

“We lived in an old house on a flower farm, where my parents worked,” Villa says. “It was a beautiful place—but it wasn’t ours.” His parents worked hard, and dreamed of one day having a ranch of their own. Eventually, that parents’ dream became one of Gavino’s own dreams as well.

Gavino made his parents proud: after graduating from a private college in Stockton, he continued his studies at UCSB, where he obtained his Master’s in Engineering. But when it came to matters of personal philosophy and important decision-making, Gavino still turned for advice to his dad.

Miguel Villa never received any formal education, but “he was a welleducated man,” Gavino says of his late father. He was self-taught; and always interested in learning new things. From him, Gavino inherited his curiosity, his strong faith, and his work ethic.

“My father always emphasized the importance of being smart,” Gavino Villa says. “Another thing that I’ve learned from him, and what I want to pass on to my kids is the love for work. Whatever work you do, you have to learn to love it. And the way to learn to love it is by doing your best.

If you’re doing your best, you’ll feel good about yourself.”

Villa remembers his college days, when he made money by washing dishes. “I tried to be the best dishwasher possible,” he says. “When I left, everyone missed me—and it was a point of pride for me.”

As a young engineer fresh from college, Villa was thrilled to get a job at Lockheed Martin—one of the largest aero-

A scenic spot within the Bamboo.

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space companies in the nation. “I got to work on some very important projects,” he says. Moreover, the job involved traveling, and that was ‘a really fun part’ for Gavino. “It was exciting to visit various labs and do very expensive experiments,” he says.

But even then, there were elements of work that “weren’t that fun,” Villa admits. “Still, I tried to do the best I could,” he says. “And I was a good engineer.”

One of the drawbacks of working for a company with 115,000 employees is the inevitable realization that “you’re just one of many.” “The projects were big, and everyone’s individual input was very small,” Villa recalls. “My check was deposited right into my bank account, so there was no direct correlation between my effort and my payment.”

Entrepreneurial and outgoing, he wanted more: he wanted to be in charge of things.

A son of immigrants, Villa sees the greatness of this country in its opportunities. “The system of education is geared towards helping you to find a job, but my message to my children is to be self-employed, to choose their own destiny, to be entrepreneurs, and to be their own bosses,” he says.

This belief in self-reliance allowed Villa to try out several crazy ideas before discovering his true calling in gardening. “I’m lucky that my wife Estefania supports me in all my pursuits,” Gavino smiles.

One of those crazy ideas was a stint as a financial adviser. “I became interested in it, and dropped everything, and did it,” Villa says. It was a successful endeavor. “We had 3 offices: in SLO, Tulare and Paso, and we made money,” says Villa. But the experiment ended when business began to overtake his life. “When I got to know what it really was like then I didn’t like it anymore,” Villa admits. “The work was taking every minute I had, and I didn’t see my kids or my wife—it wasn’t enjoyable.”

“Money is very important—as a tool, but I’ve never been driven by money alone,” Villa says, reflecting on his decision to go back to his roots and turn to farming. The satisfaction of seeing your customers happy is something that no money can buy: “Now I always feel great, because I know that through my efforts I can make someone’s life better,” Villa explains.

“When I started a nursery in Paso Robles, I knew that I had no training in plants,” he concedes, “but I also knew that I could learn.” He had the same confidence about building his own house, and fixing the rental properties he acquired in San Miguel.

PEOPLE Just like his father, he had no doubt in his abilities to figure things out. “I went to Home Depot and bought all their books on plumbing, and wiring, and I just read them all,” Villa says.

Of course, reading books was just the beginning; then came the labor. Villa bought his family farm in 2000, but continued to commute to his job in the Bay Area for another seven years. “I’d come home from work at 7, eat dinner and then go to the rental properties to fix what needed fixing,” Villa recalls. “It was hard. Looking back, I don’t know even how we did it all. I bought this real estate that nobody else wanted, and it was a good deal, but it needed a lot of improvements. It’s a good thing that I have lots of energy, and I like to work.”

The family house, which Gavino built at around the same time with the help of his brother-in-law Angel, took two years to finish—but it was well worth the effort: it combines modern technology and timeless beauty.

Vegetation reduces moisture loss, prevents soil erosion, and cools the air. We might see fewer manicured lawns in the future, but for those reluctant to replace their Kentucky Bluegrass with rocks, mulch and cacti, colorful bamboo can become a welcome alternative.

Gavino specializes in bamboo privacy screens—indoors and outdoors. Years confined in a cubicle taught him the need for privacy in places where people spend many hours together, from business offices to retail outlets and restaurants. Indoors, bamboo walls, keep distractions at bay by dividing large rooms into more comfortable private spaces, and are easy on the eye.

Outdoors, bamboo, planted in a pattern, make instant nature rooms for reading, meditation, exercise, and even showers.

“What can be better after a hot busy day than a shower out in nature in the privacy of your own bamboo room?” Gavino asks.

“Nothing!” he answers with conviction.

He’s been just as meticulous about planning his farm. When he first bought the land, his neighbors encouraged him to plant grapes, but he chose bamboo. “I’ve always done things a bit differently,” he says, “and bamboo is like no other plant.”

He should know: his business grew from his own gardening experience, when he lived in Fremont and worked for Lockheed Martin.

“My commute was 15 miles,” Gavino says, “but in the Bay Area traffic it took me an hour to get home.” During his long day at work, he dreamed of returning to his private oasis at home. “We had a big yard,” Gavino says, “and it was completely surrounded by bamboo.” Letting the grass grow tall, Villa created the illusion of a lush tropical retreat.

“We were in the middle of the city, but it felt as if we’re in South America,” he says.

Bamboo is extremely versatile, and its appreciation in the US is rising rapidly. With the water loss in the West this year estimated to be 240Gt (an amount equal to the mass of all of Greenland’s Ice Sheet, if melted), some might decide to give up on gardening altogether. But they would be wrong.

Today, Villa is happy to create similar islands of beauty for his clients. “Bamboo’s popularity is growing, and so is our business,” Gavino says. “We have many ideas for expansion: there will be dinners in the bamboo grove, and a B&B. But one of the most important things is finally meeting the community. It

Its architectural details—from doors and windows, to long enfilade of arches and thick concrete walls—were inspired by the design of the Mission San Miguel Arcángel, built in the traditional Spanish style that Gavino admires.

11

A Bamboo wall

isn’t just about work: meeting people makes it fun. I make friends, and it feels good.”

To learn more about Gavino and his bamboo farm, visit www.PasoBamboo.com or call 423.7543

Sunday, November 9, 2014 4 p.m. · Cuesta College CPAC Featured guests: The Concert Choir of the Central Coast Children’s Choir

CRICKET HANDLER & JILL ANDERSON Artistic Directors

Tickets: $20 advance $25 at the door · $10 student brownpapertickets.com www.canzonawomen.org

805 Aerovista #103, San Luis Obispo O C T O B E R

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PEOPLE

josh and corrin lepell

By Will Jones The family is one of nature’s masterpieces—George Santayana

Mutual friends introduced Josh and Corrin LePell to one another over dinner on the patio of Novo Restaurant in 2005. Josh, in his early thirties, was a tile setter on the threshold of starting a successful tile setting business, LePell Tile and Stone, and Corrin, in her mid-twenties, was a successful real estate agent. While both were on the rise in their professions, they had reached that point by distinctively different paths.

Corrin grew up in Auburn, California, the oldest of four. Both of her parents were self-employed. She attended Placer High School where she excelled in soccer, and then enrolled at Sacramento State. She discovered San Luis Obispo on a mountain biking trip and decided she wanted to live here and attend Cal Poly. “I immediately saw San Luis Obispo as amazing and beautiful. I went home, transferred to Sierra Junior College, got my AA degree and took the courses necessary to get into Cal Poly.” Corrin enrolled at Poly in 2000 and graduated in 2002 with a degree in psychology, with an emphasis in human resources and business.

While attending Poly, Corrin was actively involved in AIESEC, an exchange program which gives foreign students the opportunity to work in the United States and domestic students the opportunity to

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The LePell family

PEOPLE Josh and Corrin’s Wedding, 2007.

Portland, Josh started attending junior college business classes and working for UPS after years of doing a variety of unskilled jobs just to survive. Fortunately, a friend introduced him to tile setting, and after visits home and realizing how much he missed the area, at thirty he moved back to his father’s house.

Josh started setting tile during the housing boom, working on new houses all over the county, picking up a contractor’s license along the way. Corrin and Josh were engaged in 2006 and married in 2007. They started working together on Josh’s new business, LePell Tile and Stone, which they incorporated, and eventually bought San Luis Marble and Granite in 2008. Corrin said, “Josh had a good reputation in the tile setting business.

The owner of San Luis Marble approached him at a gas station, asked if he was Josh LePell, and said, ‘I’ve heard about you. I’m interested in selling my business to you.’”

work in foreign countries. “The purpose is to spread cultural understanding through the exchanges. We brought the first student from the Czech Republic. I learned everything I could about sales because I basically had to sell these students to companies who weren’t that interested in hiring foreign students.”

Corrin earned her real estate license in 2003.

She helped found the Women’s Council of Realtors, Central Coast chapter, and was the president of the chapter in 2006. She currently works for Patterson Realty. “I love living and working in San Luis Obispo. For a town this size, it has all the amenities of a big city, with the added bonus of easy access to open space and challenging recreational activities.” Corrin mountain bikes, surfs, practices yoga, and at the time of our interview was recruiting runners for the Central Coast Cancer Challenge in September, a fund raiser named after a friend’s wife who lost her life to ovarian cancer at the beginning of 2014.

Josh is a Central Coast native. Born in General Hospital in 1972, he attended Arroyo Grande schools. By the time he was a sophomore at Arroyo Grande High School, his parents had divorced, he had lived in a group home in San Luis Obispo, he was hanging out with older kids who weren’t in school, and he dropped out. It was the beginning of an odyssey that included passing the California High School Exit Exam, getting married at eighteen, moving to Idaho and then to Oregon, and having two young sons when barely out of his teens.

“I never really appreciated the beauty of the Central Coast and all the wonderful things we have because I’d grown up here and didn’t realize how lucky I was.” Divorced and living in

Josh and Corrin secured their new business with a loan from Founder’s Bank. “I had to step in and do all of the administration,” Corrin said. “We had employees, we bought a truck and a trailer and we started bidding public works projects. It was a big change.” They won contracts with UCSB, the Carrillo Rec Center in downtown Santa Barbara, Vandenberg Air Force Base and Fort Hunter Liggett.

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While building their business, Josh and Corrin also welcomed daughters Macy and Fiona into their family. When we spoke they were excited about Macy beginning kindergarten at Pacheco Elementary School in the dual immersion program. Fiona will follow in a couple of years.

As time goes by, they hope to spend as much time together as possible as a family, including surf trips to Nicaragua and other parts of the world. Josh rediscovered his passion for surfing after returning to the area.

“Work is important, but family is more important. There has to be a balance,” Josh said. Corrin added, “We have highly skilled, well paid employees to share our business with. We’re not in it for the money but for the freedom. We value family time and enjoying where we live.”

The LePells recognize that it’s the culture of San Luis Obispo that inspires their approach to work and family. “It’s not a pretentious, materialistic town. It attracts people who want to work hard and succeed, but also want to enjoy life and family, and give back to the community. We don’t need the McMansion. We want to do quality work, provide good customer service and pay our employees a good wage.

Those are the values that are important to us.”

San Luis Marble and Granite has also generously donated materials and labor to, among others, Poly House, the Noor Dental Clinic, the San Luis Obispo Alano Club, and Middlehouse, a men’s sober living facility in San Luis Obispo. Josh was chosen as one of the Top 20 Under 40 by The Tribune in the fifth year of its annual recognition of young leaders.

A big challenge was buying a business right at the end of an economic boom and at the beginning of a recession. “San Luis Marble and Granite used to buy their stone from wholesalers in Southern California,” Josh said. “To help get through the recession, I went to Brazil, met the quarry owners and started importing directly, carrying our own inventory for customers to choose from. We also import from Italy and do our own fabrication and have our own tile showroom.”

Throughout the difficult times, “We paid our employees, paid our bills and sometimes had zero money,” Josh said. “We had faith and just continued to go to work.” When asked how they would advise young business owners just getting started, Josh and Corrin both emphasized hard work, being willing to do whatever is necessary at any given time, being humble enough to do what no one else wants to do.

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PEOPLE

pete kelley

community friend for four decades: feeding bodies, Hearts and minds for the greater good

By Deborah Cash

I

f you lived in the SLO—Avila Beach “greater metropolitan areas” during the 1970s through today, you are probably aware of the presence of one Pete Kelley, a remarkable man larger than life, full of passion and ideas and still showing up every day to make a difference in our community.

American recipes, particularly the to-die-for black beans that accompanied most meals and the recipe of which is shown in this article (SCORE!). For years, Pete’s was THE PLACE to go and typically Pete himself was in the kitchen, personally serving up orders and yelling out friendly greetings to customers walking in the door.

Kelley names his position as a historian for the SLO History Center as his focus and main activity these days, having sold his famous “Pete’s” cafés in San Luis and Avila a few years back. County residents came religiously to the Seaside Café in Avila and Southside Café in SLO for years to savor the delicious and unique, though simple, fare that he describes as Latin food and seafood with Puerto Rican influence that included Cuban barbecue, fried plantains and Mexican and South

Kelley, a Palo Alto transplant, arrived in SLO in 1968 to attend Cal Poly, earning his degree in history at which point he and a friend decided a little wanderlust was in order and they headed out overland to South America for two years. “Just for fun,” he quips, adding that upon his return he immediately gained employment at a local restaurant that turned out to be rather fortuitous given his eventual career in the food service industry. Side note: Kelley’s south-of-the equator adventures come to life in a publication entitled “Long Road South, Vagabond Diary.”

“Funny,” Kelley mused, “I got a degree in history and my first job was washing dishes at Olde Port Inn. I guess I wasn’t interested in teaching.”

He moved to Seattle for a year where he “cooked some more” in a big Mexican restaurant and then returned to the Central Coast. “I worked at another restaurant and then took what I learned from my travels and my jobs and opened my own establishment in Avila,” he said, “right next to Miss Barbara’s.” Of course, Miss Barbara’s is also a legend and

Pete’s childhood family shot: (L-R) Pete, Frank Sr, Frank Jr., Priscilla (pregnant with Jane), Judy, and Mike.

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Pete swimming from Catalina in 1991.

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for someone whose playpen was a pool table” referring to their residence in Avila under Miss Barbara’s at the time of Maritza’s birth.

Kelley himself is beyond amazing. One could spend hours listening to his local tales, his accomplishments and those of his family, including father Frank “Bud” Kelley who was a famous test pilot who flew not only the first American jet (Bell Air Comet) but was a flight commander on the USS Lexington during the Amelia Earhart search, and actually flew under the Golden Gate Bridge during its grand opening in 1937.

Pete and Mary

story for another column; Kelley said that his residence at the time was downstairs underneath her bar of renown and recalled, “One night Barb fired her pistol in the bar and woke me up.”

By 1986, a successful Kelley eyed Railroad Square in SLO as a second location; with the coming closure of beachfront Avila due to Unocal Oil Company remediation, he knew the end was in sight for his business there.

“Seaside closed in 1988. I opened the SLO location then later opened ‘Pete’s Pierside Café’ on the Pier in Avila in 2001. Locating there enabled me to buy fresh seafood directly from the commercial fishermen and streamline my menu.” It was a tremendous success but ultimately, he was looking to do something beyond the food enterprise and sold both locations. Kelley, fortunately for those who will always be true fans, still cooks for large group functions like the History Center, E Clampus Vitus and Odd Fellows Hall. “I got to know a lot of people in the community,” he said, “and I am still very ingrained here.”

In his personal life, Kelley raised his daughter Maritza as a single parent since 1985; her mother is from Puerto Rico. Displaying his fatherly pride, he glows about the wonderful young woman she’s become. “Maritza went through school in Los Osos and Morro Bay then went on to graduate from UC Santa Cruz,” Kelley said. “She joined AmeriCorps and later earned degrees in Public Policy and Latin American Studies. Currently, she lives in Washington DC and works for Samsung Electronics, where she has become active in the company’s corporate citizenship activities.

Added Kelley about his daughter, “Not bad

An Avila Beach resident, Kelley, who in 2004 married Mary Matakovich, a retired SLO High School principal and Assistant Superintendent of Schools, is entirely immersed in learning and telling the history of the area.

“My primary focus was initially from the Mission era chapters of the Spanish days. I later become more interested in Avila’s history when I had the café.” Lately, he said he’s been exploring the period of the area’s Mexican/ bandito times and also the history and lore of the Chumash, thanks in part to his friendship with Fred Collins, a local resident of Chumash descent. “I will be doing a book based on his history,” Kelley said, “It will be fictional but based on true events.” In 2000, Kelley joined the SLO County Historical Society and is now the Chair of the Exhibits Committee, on the Board of Directors and does research in the Center for those seeking information. In addition, Kelley serves as President on the Board of Directors of the Avila Community Services District that encompasses the immediate town of Avila Beach proper.

Pete and his daughter, Maritza

When not applying his energy and enthusiasm for the community at large, Kelley practices Tai Chi and ocean swimming.

“My number one form of fitness and also my hobby is the ocean,” he declared and he’s got the evidence to back it up. Lately more svelte than his days as a chef, Kelley says he’s always been a freediver, body surfer and swimmer. “The ocean is the perfect place to swim,” he said, adding that in 1991 he completed a crossing between Catalina Island and San Pedro, “the 69th person to do so” with a final time of 13 hours and 45 minutes.

So what does this long time local think of the new Avila? “I don’t judge Avila by its architecture or businesses as much as I do by the weather or the ocean—it’s the same as before.”

He adds that he likes the Bob Jones Trail and the promenade though he misses many of his old local buddies of whom there’s “probably about a dozen” left. Whether preparing food, writing about his environs or sharing his love of local history and the ocean, Pete Kelley is a true community friend.

Pete’s Black Beans 2 lbs uncooked black beans, clean and cover with water overnight in a bean cooking pot Discard water and rinse beans Cover beans with water and boil for two hours carefully—don’t burn. Add more boiling water if needed.

Sauté 8 finely diced garlic cloves and 1 finely chopped medium yellow onion in ½ cup olive oil When onions are clarified, add all into the bean pot Add 2 tsp salt, 1 tsp granulated garlic and 1 tsp ground cumin Stir briskly, serves eight

Pete and the original Cafe.

Factoid: 9% of 18 – 34 year olds eat black beans at home regularly compared to 1% in 1995. (From “What American Eats,” Parade magazine, September 7, 2014) O C T O B E R

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MARIANNE KENNEDY

WOMEN’S SHELTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR HONORED AT 2ND ANNUAL LYCEUM EVENT

By James Statler

O

n Friday, October 10th spend National Mental Health Day with Community Counseling Center at the Madonna Inn as the agency plays host to an intriguing afternoon of award giving and speakers. A focal point will be presentation of the Arlene Chandler Award given annually to an individual demonstrating outstanding dedication and exceptional leadership excellence in mental health, to be given this year to Executive Director of the Women’s Shelter Program of SLO County, Marianne Kennedy. Entering her 28th year at the helm of the Women’s Shelter Program, Marianne has grown the span of services, community partnerships, and professional reputation of the agency quite tactfully and dutifully. Arlene Chandler, for whom the award is named, helped found and incorporate CCC as a non-profit in 1968 (originally Family Services Center) and also spent 30 years in pupil services counseling at Cuesta College and Cal Poly. Her pioneering role in developing counseling programs for families and students in San Luis Obispo is truly remarkable. Arlene will be in attendance and recognized at the introduction of the event. Awards ceremony will also include Axelroth and Board of Directors Scholarships for an outstanding CCC Intern and Trainee.

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Community Counseling Center’s James Statler honoring Marianne Kennedy.

Marianne Kennedy‘s career has been typified by dependable and broadminded leadership. With determination she has focused on developing networks of professional domestic violence counselors, case managers, advocates, employment specialists, legal advisors—as well as volunteer Board and program support persons to eradicate the cycle of violence.

This cultivation of service providers and community members has led to the creation of a highly reputable system of crisis intervention, emergency shelter, advocacy, treatment, prevention and education services in San Luis Obispo and the South County region. Marianne’s journey to the post of Executive Director with the Women’s Shelter Program (WSP) required a steady climb through the health and human services world in Southern California. Yet it wasn’t until she arrived in SLO County, that her role would take firm root and 28 years later we’d marvel at her career accomplishments and the success of the WSP as an agency.

Marianne began her work in the domestic violence field as a volunteer on the crisis line for the Domestic Violence Shelter in Oceanside. At the same time she was honing her case management skills on a very hands-on basis by operating a group home for six foster teens. After nearly a decade of work in the Oceanside region, Kennedy accepted the position of Children’s Program Coordinator and then Assistant Director at the Domestic Violence Shelter in Lancaster. Following a period as the Director of Turning Point Homeless Shelter in Santa Monica, Marianne took the leap to SLO County. Choosing to settle in Los Osos, she began her tenure with WSP in November of 1986 and thus began her time as the agency’s Executive Director.

Marianne was kind enough to sit down and share some of the watershed moments in funding and expansion that have brought services to their current level. “In the early ’80s the main source of funding came from Marriage License fees. Later the WSP began tapping into mental health counseling benefits available through the Victim’s Compensation Program (VCP) managed locally by the Victim/Witness Assis-

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tance Center of the District Attorney’s Office.” With a ready bank of committed licensed marriage family therapists and interns already on deck as volunteers, WSP began collecting reimbursement from VCP for clients and led to the creation in 1993 of the Center for Alternatives to Domestic Violence (CADV) bringing about an agency shift toward counseling needs and services.

More remarkably, Kennedy recalled that shortly after the murder of Nicole Brown Simpson in 1994 a fax was received from the Maternal and Child Branch of the State’s Department of Health Services. All the agency had to do was send in a request in order to receive funding. For the first time domestic violence was recognized as a health issue in addition to a criminal justice issue. “The grants were one time large sums with very little red tape or reporting measures. They proved huge windfalls and helped increase programs—but agencies that spent the funds quickly and frivolously ended up in trouble because there was no additional funding for almost three years.”

In addition to providing client services, the agency has maximized its stability through the purchase of its emergency shelter as well as six units of transitional housing in SLO and four units in Grover Beach.

Kennedy gives a good deal of credit to Tom Sherman of Founders Community Bank for his financial acumen and support of those projects.

One of the biggest funding and program impacts came in 2000 when WSP received their first Child Abuse Treatment (CHAT) grant from the state government. For close to 15 years the CHAT grant has helped place counseling interns in schools K-12 in the San Luis Coastal and Lucia Mar Unified School District—as well as offering agency-based therapy for additional children who are the victims of child abuse. Marianne explained that “the counseling program, which is the CADV, is in fact the single largest program operated by WSP, encompassing the majority of paid staff and number of clients served.

However, the emergency shelter remains the core program.”

From a special event fundraising standpoint, WSP began making headway in the late 1980s when the first fashion show themed event took place at the Sands Motel. The concept eventually gave way to what is now Phyllis Madonna’s “Annual Fashion Show & Musical Revue” (heading into its 27th year running). More recent events that have taken root include “Around the World” focused on the South County community and “Clash of Keys” launched last June as a method for attracting a younger demographic of supporters.

As Marianne attested, the journey has been made up of fluctuations in funding, rapid changes in awareness and variation in the types of services offered. Yet, San Luis Obispo and the South County regions have been forever professionally, therapeutically, and culturally touched by the strength and capacity of the WSP. Moreover, the community and various other health and safety agencies, which rely on the WSP for its host of services, herald the strength of the referral. As the WSP celebrates its 35th anniversary, 28 of those years have been inspired by Marianne’s imperturbable nature and shear commitment to domestic violence and intimate partner violence services, which includes emergency shelter and transitional housing for the victims of domestic violence and high quality trauma-informed psychotherapy and counseling services. When she arrived in November 1986 the budget was $130,000 with 3 ½ paid staff and today it stands at 1.6 million with 34 paid employees and over 120 volunteers.

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Come celebrate in person and be captured by Lyceum 2014 and all the scintillating activities it will entail by registering at www.cccslo.com or calling the main office at (805) 543-7969. Tickets are $50.

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slo access...

the same situation as Mike. We managed to get Mike to attend and that is how it began for Mike and myself.”

offering support and friendship

By Heather Young “Look at what my chair can do,” a patron, Susan Chandler, at The Graduate in San Luis Obispo said, extending her chair as high as it could go to demonstrate how she’s able to retrieve items from shelves that she couldn’t normally reach from her wheelchair.

Another patron, Mike Ward a quadriplegic, showed how his chair could make him more mobile with a push of a button. Then Ron Patterson, a paraplegic, of Atascadero demonstrated what his chair, invented by Dean Kamen who invented the Segway, could do. The chair is called an iBOT Mobility System. Patterson showed how his chair’s heavy-duty wheels could stack on top of another to give him height, as well as the chair extending even more. He can take his chair just about anywhere he wants to go, including in the sand.

Chandler, Ward and Patterson are all part of SLO Access, which meets at The Graduate the third Wednesday every month from 5 to 7 p.m. The group is open to anyone who wants to join, though it is focused on people with a disability. Ward said that SLO Access started as a nonprofit, but the members kept it going as a support group.

“We all have different skills, different things we do and how we’ve adapted and we want to share,” said Patterson, who joined the group in 2006 after he returned home from the hospital. He was a firefighter for CALFire.

“It’s a real positive group; many of us have been doing this for many years,” Ward said. Ward, a former fire captain and now chaplain for the SLO City Fire Department, broke his neck in a freak bicycle accident 17 years ago.

Both Ward and Patterson credit Mae MacDonald for keeping the group together.

“If it weren’t for her we wouldn’t be going,” Ward said. “She’s the glue who holds the group together.”

MacDonald said she and her husband, who has since passed away, got involved with SLO Access after Ward was injured.

“I offered to take care of his home while he was in hospital and never left,” MacDonald said. “My husband and I heard about a group in

MacDonald sends out a card every month encouraging everyone interested to join. She also brings a dessert to the monthly meeting and organizes a summer barbecue and a Christmas party.

“I stay involved because after 15 years these folks are my friends and I saw from the beginning that they had a lot to share with each other,” MacDonRon Patterson demonstrates how his chair can ald said. “My husband stack its wheels to give him more height. who passed away five years ago was our biggest supporter and I know he would want me to continue. Truly, I get much more out of this than anyone else does. These folks learn from each other and it is amazing just how much they share.”

Patterson said that the wheelchair-bound people who belong to SLO Access are in wheelchairs for a variety of reasons. Some have had to use one their entire lives, others found themselves in a wheelchair later on due to accidents or disease, such as MS. “As a newly disabled person in a wheelchair, I didn’t want to go hang out with other people in wheelchairs,” Patterson said, but added that going kept him going because he was able to find the support he needed. He heard about the group while he was in rehab in Santa Barbara.

“At first you’re so busy relearning how to live—you’re in survival mode,” Patterson said. “[After returning home] that’s when this group becomes so helpful.”

He said that members share with each other how to get the right kind of wheelchair or how to get a caregiver, or even how to get a vehicle modified.

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Lunch out at the Graduate

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SLO Access group meeting.

Monica Judd of SLO is new to the group and new to a wheelchair, although she has had MS for the last 12 years.

1995. Fitch said she got involved because she got MS and was interested in how to deal with live with losing an ability.

“I can interact with people with similar challenges,” Judd said about SLO Access. “We can network and talk about our disabilities. The beauty of it is you don’t have to talk about your disability [as well]. Who better to help you out than someone [who’s going through the same thing].”

Not only do the members network and enjoy being around others with similar challenges, but they also get updates on what’s going on in the state capital in regards to disability rights. Chandler is president of the state-wide organization, California for Disability Rights.

Until she became wheelchair-bound, Judd trained service dogs.

Though she can’t train them anymore, she educates people about them and how to get a service dog.

“We monitor the laws at Capitol Hill,” Chandler said, with the organization’s newsletter in-hand, which she passed around to interested members. “There are lots and lots of issues people with disabilities have.”

Cherie Fitch of SLO has been a part of SLO Access since it began in

For more information contact Mae MacDonald at 594-1164.

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hood ornaments—

The Spirit of Ecstasy 1960 Rolls Royce

art and the automobile

By Richard Bauman

“What are they?” my 11-year old grandson asked when I showed him some pictures of hood ornaments I took at a classic car show. Hood ornaments, at one time a distinctive decoration on cars and trucks, have gone the way of dial telephones and manual typewriters— historic items, but mostly out of place in today’s hi-tech world.

Hood ornaments grew out of car radiator caps. On early automobiles the radiator was the foremost part of the car with radiator caps that were functional rather than decorative. They were removable to add water to the radiator, and then screwed back in place to reseal the car’s cooling system.

The first hood ornaments were “after market” radiator caps that had a built-in thermometer. Thus, a driver could glance at it and know if his engine was getting too hot.

It didn’t take long for radiator cap/thermometers to get decorative enclosures, thus making them more attractive and distinctive. Especially compared to the factory provided plain Jane radiator caps.

By the early 1920s car manufacturers realized distinctive radiator caps could give their cars special identity and set them apart from the competition. In some cases, one didn’t have to see the car’s nameplate, just its hood ornament, to know the car’s make.

As automobiles became more aerodynamic, a decorative grill hid the radiator, and the radiator cap became hidden under the hood.

But the hood ornament didn’t disappear. Instead it emerged as its own distinctive bit of automobile art. It went from being functional to decorative to artsy. And the more expensive the vehicle, the more artsy the hood ornament.

Hood ornaments, also called mascots, were no longer an afterthought but rather an integral part of the car’s design. Often, manufacturers tried to have a car’s hood ornament reflect the car’s identity. For example, in the 1930s, Plymouth automobiles had hood ornaments that incorporated the billowing sails and a Mayflower-like ship configuration to bring to mind Pilgrims landing at Plymouth Rock.

The Pontiac, for much of its automotive lifetime, incorporated the head of an Indian chief (representing Chief Pontiac, the great leader of the Ottawa Indians) into most of its hood ornaments. The chief’s head was made of amber colored plastic in the 1950s, and was illuminated at night.

Greyhound Dog—1930s Lincoln

1935 Plymouth

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1960 Bently

Helmeted Archer

Not to be outdone, the 1951 DeSoto automobile (made by Chrysler) had a hood ornament with the likeness of the explorer Hernando de Soto. It too was amber plastic and illuminated at night.

In the early 1950s, when space travel was still in the realm of science fiction, Oldsmobile introduced its legendary “Rocket 88” series of cars. With sleek styling and “rocket power,” via a big V-8 engine, its rocket inspired hood ornament completed the theme. From 1949 till hood ornaments for the most part disappeared in the 1960s, Oldsmobile hood ornaments evoked rocket ships and rocket power.

Early on the makers of more expensive automobiles hired artists to create their hood ornaments. After all, elegant cars needed elegant hood ornaments.

The Pierce Arrow, for example, had a “Helmeted Archer” designed by Herbert Dawley an innovative designer at Pierce Arrow. The Archer made its debut on the 1928 models. More sophisticated archers, designed by Sculptor W. Schnell in the 1930s, appeared on Pierce Arrows right up until the company closed its doors in 1938.

All of the Pierce Arrow archers seem to be leaning forward into the wind with their bows pulled back at the ready. It’s as if they were preparing to puncture the gas tank or tire of a car in front of them.

Mercedes Benz Star

There occasionally has been a bit of intrigue in the design of a car’s hood ornament. One of the most elegant and enduring hood ornaments, “The Spirit of Ecstasy,” is unique to Rolls Royce automobiles, and is pretty much inseparable from the Rolls brand.

British sculptor Charles Robinson Sykes created the distinguished hood ornament, which depicts a woman with her arms spread out behind her, and her clothes billowing in the wind.

The original hood ornament he designed, titled “The Whisper,” wasn’t made for the Rolls Royce company, but rather for Lord Montagu, an early motoring enthusiast. Sykes’ model for the statuette was Eleanor Thornton, said to be Montagu’s mistress. The sculpting was a figurine in fluttering robes, but with a finger pressed to her lips and representing the secret love between Eleanor and Montagu.

Rolls Royce’s management didn’t like the notion of hood ornaments for their cars. But when some Rolls owners started creating their own ornaments, which some of the company’s management felt were inappropriate for their fine automobiles, Claude Johnson, the company’s managing director stepped in. He commissioned Sykes to create a dignified and graceful hood ornament that would convey the spirit of the Rolls Royce name.

integrate them into modern car designs, but rather it’s a matter of legislated prohibition.

In recent years, European Union pedestrian safety rules require carmakers that want to sell their cars in Europe to redesign frontal areas to reduce pedestrian injuries in case of an accident. Thus, the Mercedes Benz hood ornaments are spring mounted to fold back in case of an accident. On Rolls Royce automobiles The Spirit of Ecstasy retreats into a compartment below it if need be. Some models of Jaguar are sold in the U.S. with hood ornaments, but not in Europe.

For more than forty years hood ornaments gave automobile brands special identity.

Many were miniature pieces of art. Now they’re mostly memories, and collector items, replaced by “badges” or emblems. While these are distinctive to each brand they also lack the artiness of hood ornaments.

In February 1911, Sykes unveiled his creation and described The Spirit of Ecstasy as “A graceful little goddess … who has selected road travel as her supreme delight and alighted on the prow of a Rolls-Royce motor car to revel in the freshness of the air and the musical sound of her fluttering draperies.”

Some Rolls Royce critics viewed the figurine a little differently. They called it “Ellie in her Nightie,” a subtle disdain for Sykes using Eleanor as his model. It has nonetheless endured and is still used on Rolls Royce automobiles.

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at the market

apple pancakes with cinnamon and dates

By Sarah Hedger

O She’ll love it here Classy, fun and always there for me – mom and The Manse on Marsh have a lot in common.

Visit us and you’ll fall in love with the elegant boutique retirement community in the heart of downtown San Luis Obispo. Schedule a visit to The Manse on Marsh today to see why so many families know “it’s the one.”

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TheManse.net (805) 541-4222

475 Marsh Street, San Luis Obispo O C T O B E R

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ctober is an amazing time of year on the Central Coast for so many reasons, especially food reasons! One of my personal favorites, is the fact it’s apple season. Few things beat a good apple in my book. How lucky are we to have so many amazing apple options to choose from, right in our own backyard? I didn’t realize until moving away from the Central Coast that you just can’t go pick apples on apple farms in other places in the world—even ones that grow apples!

While I don’t know why they wouldn’t encourage members of the public to enjoy apple picking, first hand, it is something I do my best to get out and enjoy as much as possible, especially in October.

This month’s recipe, Apple Pancakes with Cinnamon and Dates, was inspired from the Whole 30 program I talked about in last month’s article. While I made it through the 30 days of no sugar, grains, legumes, or dairy, it inspired me to come up with new recipes that incorporate natural fruit as sweeteners, rather than added sugars. Granted, some will argue a sugar is a sugar once ingested into our bodies, but what I’m learning is that even different honeys vary in sweetness, depending on, not only the type, but the actual sugar make-up of the specific honey and the actual ratio of fructose and glucose. Apples are similar in the fact there is a wide range of varying sweetness, depending on the variety. Older, or heirloom varieties, tend to be less sweet with more depth of flavor than the common apples sold in grocery stores. It was decided by corporations somewhere along the way, that all we wanted and valued, were perfectly shaped, sweet (or tart) apples. When in all actuality, there are heaps more flavor compounds in the more than 7,500 known cultivars grown around the world. If they say variety is the spice of life, apples top my list for having both variety and spice!

The disclaimer on these pancakes is that they are not your average pancake, to say

apple pancakes with cinnamon and dates Makes 2 large pancakes 2 spray-free/organic apples, grated and placed in a sieve to drain for a few minutes 2-3 medjool dates, finely chopped 4 eggs, lightly beaten 2 tsp chia seeds 1 tsp cinnamon ½ tsp vanilla or vanilla beans 2 T coconut oil Optional topping: Maple caramelized bacon bits: Place chopped bits of bacon in hot skillet until crispy. the least. I’ll just cut to the chase and tell you they have no flour or rising agent, which leaves them packed with nutrients and flavor. While they may taste a little more “eggy” (technical term), they have more protein and good quality fat from the eggs and chia and coconut oil, thus nearly a complete meal, regardless of what time you enjoy them. Coconut oil is a great oil to use when you need a hot pan as it has a high smoke point, meaning its fat structure is more stable, enabling your body to recognize it for what it is (as opposed to turning into free radicals and compounds toxic to our bodies). Every ingredient in these pancakes is not only delicious, but nutrient dense as well, and the apples and dates lend just enough sweetness, without being over the top sweet. If you want to treat yourself to a little extra added goodness (i.e. for a Sunday treat), feel free to top with the caramelized maple bacon. It takes them to the next level and can make any day feel like a Sunday. That said, enjoy your October (and any apples you come across)!

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Drizzle 2T maple syrup over and place in hot oven while you make the pancakes.

Place apples in bowl with dates, eggs, chia seeds, cinnamon, and vanilla and give a good mix. Let sit for 10 minutes. Preheat a good skillet (the heavier the better...cast iron is great) and place 1T coconut oil in pan. Once hot, pour half the pancake mixture into pan and let cook for about 3 minutes, or until golden on bottom and mostly cooked on top. Gently flip pancake to other side, letting to cook for another minute or two until cooked through.

Remove from heat and repeat with second pancake. Top with caramelized bacon and good (the real stuff) maple syrup.

Enjoy!

Find this recipe and more seasonal inspiration at http://www. seasonalalchemist.com

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HOME/OUTDOOR

slo county art scene slo museum of art upcoming showcases

By Rebecca Leduc

natural selections smith and wessels

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he Central Coast Sculptors Group presents artwork by San Luis Obispo sculptor Henry Wessels and fellow artist Donald E. Smith, a printmaker from San Diego.

The artistic conversation between these two longtime friends takes form in an exhibition entitled Natural Selections: Smith and Wessels in Evolution, on view at the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art from October 3 to November 2, 2014.

Annual showcase of children’s art

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onoring the creativity and artistic prowess of the younger members of the community, the San Luis Obispo Museum of Art presents Kids Eye View. This annual showcase of artwork selected from the current year’s Youth Summer Art Camps will be on view at the Museum from October 3 to November 2, 2014.

During 6 week-long sessions, 180 campers—from 5-year-olds to teenagers—enjoyed “brains-on” art instruction from talented and inspiring teaching artists. Classes ranged from “Hey, Picasso!” to “Layered Landscapes,” “Scrolls: Visual Storytelling,” and more.

Beth Mott, the Museum’s Youth Education Coordinator, has taken great care in curating an impressive exhibition of the children’s artwork. The quality of the work that emerges from each camp is always striking. According to Ms. Mott, this summer’s standout class was “Murals: The Big Picture,” with both the 7 to 8-year-old and 9 to 12-year-old groups.

A closing reception to celebrate the young artists will take place on Sunday, November 2 from 2-4pm.

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Henry Wessels and Donald Smith met in high school in the Midwest and shared art school experiences at Northern Illinois University in Rockford, Illinois. Their paths diverged after art school, but they still found time to travel together and continued to act as sounding boards for one another as they worked through and developed artistic ideas.

Mr. Wessels creates and casts editions of sculpture in bronze. Themes include figure or head forms isolated in mid-gesture. Mr. Smith’s drawings and prints express his vision of images from past and present and lead to the development of interpretations in drawings and prints from copper as drypoints, engravings and etchings.

This exhibition of sculpture and print has been titled Natural Selections to reflect the evolution of the paths of these two artists over the course of their friendship and as a nod to Charles Darwin, who is featured in their work.

A public reception with the artists will take place on Friday, October 3 from 6-9pm in conjunction with Art After Dark. A Museum members-only artist talk will be held on Friday, October 3 at 5pm.

An exhibition tour with the artists will take place on Saturday, November 1 at 2pm.

The San Luis Obispo Museum of Art, dedicated to the education, presentation and preservation of the visual arts on the Central Coast, is located at 1010 Broad Street. Hours are 11am – 5pm daily. Closed Tuesdays through July 4. Free admission, donations appreciated. For more info visit SLOMA.org.

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slo county art scene

erin hanson, the award-winning landscape artist Who never grew up

By Amy Jensen

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may say that she never grew up but I certainly do not mean that she did not evolve. I also do not mean that she is particularly short, maybe slightly below average. What I am really calling attention to is her childlike sense of wonder, which is evident not only in her sweepingly colorful landscapes but in the way she goes about life. She tackles each new painting, exhibition or even interview with poise and underlying joyful determination. From what I can tell Erin has always been Erin: hardworking, excited, bright, and of course artistically wildly talented.

Many have called her bubbly, almost as if it were a bad thing, but I just think they are not used to art (and maybe life) being done with such fun and zeal. Where art is sometimes a serious thing or meticulously analyzed Erin throws herself and her paint at the canvas like a whirlwind of equal parts passion and precision.

It is no surprise that her fans and collectors often ask to see her paint live, something which she rarely concedes to. I can’t blame her; art may not need to be a complicated thing but it is certainly a personal matter for any artist. Erin is generally a very open and warm person with wide dark brown eyes and a friendly smile, but when in her large LA based studio, A/C blasting, a Pandora mix covering any other ambient noises and a giant paint brush in her hand … I just don’t know that her magic could be spun with an audience.

Raised in the rural desert just northwest of Los Angeles by a pair of wildly intelligent artists parading as a programmer and an educator, Erin was the eldest of three brothers (all boy scouts). Erin kept them in line and at 10 years senior to the youngest brother, the only girl, and the physically smallest of the lot, she was the 5’3” ringleader of a rag-tag band of dirt balls arranging and rearranging the backyard for their various games (let’s just say shovels and tunnels were involved).

Erin left for Berkeley at the tender age of 16 to study Bioengineering (class of 2003), which in itself is quite an accomplishment.

“At my 10-year high school reunion, my school counselor read all of our entry essays. At age six, my essay read: ‘When I grow up, I want to be an artist, a scientist, and a dancer.’ If you equate rock climbing and Zumba with dancing, I guess I did all three!”

Many have told the story of how after college she reconnected to her artistic roots while exploring and rock-climbing through the red rock of southern Nevada. Many have told the story of how her parents always supported her artistic interests and how it was her father that made her an easel that she still often uses to this day.

I get the idea that many things have shaped this fine artist as many things have shaped the way you and I have come to be the way we are.

I get the idea that what is most important is that somehow she has managed to not lose that childlike wonder, and how if you look at her paintings long enough, you start to truly see the pinks, blues, oranges and purples in the surrounding hills and mountains that you would have otherwise forever missed.

Erin frequents Central California for inspiration and her latest collection Erin Hanson: Works of Paso Robles will be found at Studios on the Park in downtown Paso Robles for the month of October.

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COMMUNITY

Our Schools football safety

areas are limiting the amount of time for full contact practices and imposing stricter requirements for students to return to practice after receiving a head injury. These requirements apply to both pubic and private schools.

Limiting Full-Contact Time

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By Dr. Julian Crocker, County Superintendent of Schools

irst, a reminder and a “shoutout” for our county’s annual College Night on Monday, November 3rd, at Cuesta College from 5-8 PM. This is a unique opportunity for high school students, and their parents to meet and talk with representatives from many colleges, public and private, from within California and outside. There are also workshops on topics such as Admissions Essays and Finding the Perfect College and How To Pay for It. Free bus service is offered by SLORTA throughout the county. Thanks again to The Community Foundation, San Luis Obispo County for continuing to sponsor this very worthwhile event for our students each year.

With the fall of the year comes “Friday Night Lights,” or high school football on the Central Coast. As exciting and worthwhile as high school football can be, we must remember that it is a contact sport. As with all contact sports, the risk of injury is always present and sometimes can result in serious harm to the participant. It is incumbent on all adults involved with high school football to be aware constantly of the best practices for player safety and to give highest priority to preventing serious injury to the players.

One of the areas that is receiving increased attention at all levels of football are concus-

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sions or head injuries. A concussion is an injury to the brain usually caused by a direct blow or bump to the head. Our brains are soft tissue that are cushioned by fluid inside our skulls. When a sharp blow occurs to the head, the brain can collide with hard matter or our skulls causing a bruising and possible swelling of the brain. This is a form of Traumatic Brain Injury that can result in damage to blood vessels and nerves. Vision may be impaired, balance can be difficult, headaches may occur, feelings of nausea may happen and a general confusion or dazed feelings are all symptoms of concussions.

Due to what may be either a lack of recognition of when a concussion happens or under-reporting of concussions, the California legislature has recently passed a bill, and the Governor has signed it into law, that places new requirements on schools to both prevent and to treat concussions to avert long term damage to the brains of high school football players. Some studies have concluded that the cumulative effects of repeated blows to the head contribute to long-term brain damage and conditions such as the early onset of dementia.

This new law (AB 2127) which goes into effect in January 2015, places requirements in two areas to address the safety of football players as well as any high school athlete who sustains a head injury while participating in a sport. These two

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The new law limits the amount of time that “full contact” that can occur during practices to two practices per week during both the pre-season and the regular season. There is a limit of 90 minutes in a single day for full contact to occur. So in a typical week during the football season, full contact would be limited to a total of 180 minutes (3 hours).

Finally, no full-contact practice or activities can be held during the off-season. The law defines a “full contact practice” as one “where drills or live action is conducted that involves collisions at game speed where players execute tackles and other activities that are typical of an actual tackle football game.”

New Restrictions on Returning to Participation After a Concussion When a football player is suspected of sustaining a concussion, then that player must be removed from participation immediately for the rest of that day and not be allowed to return to participation until that student has been evaluated by a “licensed health care provider” in writing. If the diagnosis is a concussion, then the student cannot return to full participation in the sport for a minimum of seven days. Currently, there is no seven day minimum once a student is released to play by the health care provider.

I believe that these requirements are reasonable and long overdue as part of our obligation to protect the health and safety of our students.

fifth annual

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Bioneers conference

By Stacey Hunt

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ind turbines on the defunct Morro Bay power plant smokestacks? Farming wine grapes and walnuts without water in Paso Robles? Shark skin cutting down on secondary infections in hospitals? These are but a sample of the amazing things you could learn about at the fifth annual Central Coast Bioneers Conference, October 24-25 at the Grange Hall in San Luis Obispo. “There is a misconception that Bioneers is an environmental conference,” said conference organizer Stacey Hunt. “It is more a celebration of the genius of nature and the ingenuity of human beings to tap into that genius and apply it to overcome some of the world’s most intractable problems.”

Bioneers is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year as an incubator for social and scientific innovators. Many people are familiar with the Bioneers radio show which airs weekly on KCBX. After attending the National Bioneers Conference in 2008 and 2009, Hunt, along with nonprofit Ecologistics, Inc. co-founders Michael Jencks and Celia Zaentz began bringing the conference to San Luis Obispo via a licensing program. “The conference serves two purposes,” Hunt explained.

“We wanted to bring this fascinating scientific and sociological research here to stimulate the community into outside-the-box problem solving, while at the same time providing a place where residents doing amazing work here could get some recognition.”

by a report that came out in March about the increase of cancer diagnoses in the county,” Hunt said. “Knowing that early detection can make all the difference, we figured screening was the best way to put people’s minds at ease.” Ecologistics is working with the Noor Clinic, who will oversee the screening.

For more information about the conference go to www.centralcoastbioneers.org or call (805) 548-0597, or e-mail info@ecologistics.org.

Bioneers has a strong youth leadership component, and the local conference attracts students from Cuesta College, Cal Poly and College of the Sequoias in Visalia, and from Paso Robles High, Atascadero High, Outside Now Nature Academy and Midland School in Los Olivos. Donna Helete, Director of Outside Now, says “The doors of possibility were opened for our students far beyond what is typically offered in mainstream media and the typical classroom. Bioneers offers students hope for the future while introducing them to local community members, organizations and future learning possibilities they may never have known existed before.”

Thanks to generous donors, students and their instructors are usually able to have their admission price covered by scholarships.

This year the conference will have a mixture of live local workshops, videotaped presentations from the National Bioneers Conference and field trips on diverse topics such as green chemistry, economics, water conservation, the growing young farmer movement, and traditional ecological knowledge. The keynote lecture will be a presentation by Professor John Foran of UC Santa Barbara and two doctoral candidates, Corrie Ellis and Summer Gray, on the Climate Justice Project. Dr. Foran and his students travel to the United Nations climate change conventions. In Warsaw last year they captured on film the stories of the young activists from all over the world who were there pressuring their leaders to take action, and a portion of that film will be shown.

Two pre-conference events will be taking place on Thursday, October 23. An all-day field trip to the Hi Mountain Condor Lookout, accompanied by experts in California condor restoration, geologists and biologists who will talk about California condor restoration and the proposed expansion of the Wilderness area will depart from the Grange Hall that morning. That evening, beginning at 6:30 at the Fremont Theater, Central Coast Bioneers will hold a benefit concert to raise money for free cancer screening for SLO County residents. “We were alarmed O C T O B E R

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la loma adobe

...chona has new SLO “Friends”

By Patti Taylor

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here is an old saying that a person called by many names is dearly loved. So Maria Concepcion Boronda Deleissegues Munoz, also known as Maria or Chona or Grandmother Munoz, was probably a dearly loved woman.

Hopefully you will enjoy reading a little about her and some of her new San Luis Obispo “Friends.”

Chona Bononda

For Chona it all began in Monterey, California, 1820, when she was born into a family full of California history. She was the daughter of Francisca Castro and Jose Canuto Boronda (a soldier at Mission San Juan Bautista). Her father, at age 90, died in San Luis Obispo.

Her paternal grandparents were Manuel Boronda and Maria Higuera.

Manuel, born in Spain, was a corporal in the Spanish army assigned to the Presidio in San Franscisco. Chona’s family circle includes ties to many well known names such as: Donovan, Hames, Dana, Redondo, Carrillo, Valencia and Serrano. Yet, she was destined to make her own history.

Chona was raised in the Monterey area and at age 17, in the Mission San Juan Bautista, she married a French sea captain, Olivier Deleissegues.

They were still living in Monterey when, unknowingly, a significant personality entered her life. His name was Don Francisco Estevan Quintana (Estevan) and he had acquired a land grant for the 6,000 acre La Vina Rancho in San Luis Obispo. The La Vina Rancho (aka: the vineyard) included two adobes, one of which would become part of her future.

In 1842, at age 22, Chona Deleissegues also acquired a land grant from Governor Micheltorena. The land was granted in Chona’s name because her husband, a Frenchman, could not hold title to property at that time. Her land grant consisted of approximately 3,500 acres known as the Rancho Potrero de San Luis Obispo. A few years later, the Deleissegues family decided to move permanently to Rancho Potrero. This began the San Luis Obispo segment of Chona’s life that would end when she was 85 years of age.

Chona and goddaughter, Josephine Murray c1860 (daughter of Walter Murray) O C T O B E R

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Unfortunately, in May of 1849, Olivier Deleissegues died at sea a few months before their 5th child was born. The Journal PLUS

La Loma today

baby girl was named Justina, in memory of her father’s ship. During Justina’s early years, Jose Maria Munoz, a young educated man from Monterey, arrived in San Luis Obispo where he happened to met a young widow with 5 children living in an adobe. Munoz became Chona’s second husband.

Five years later, the San Luis Obispo 1854 tax list shows the Munoz family being assessed for the Potrero Rancho at a value of $2,220. This was also the same year that Chona made the wise decision to trade most of her Potrero Rancho to Estevan Quintana for a part of his La Vina Rancho that included a lovely two-story adobe known as “La Loma de La Nopalera.” The adobe was named after the Nopales cacti that grew on the property and is still growing there today. The Munoz family moved into their new home, which proved to be a very good trade as the 1860 U. S. Census of San Luis Obispo listed Jose Maria Munoz, as a farmer, with a real estate value now of $10,000.

Chona and Jose also had 5 children and were married for more than 20 years before he died. Through the 20+ years of marriage, besides helping raise 10 children, Munoz became active in San Luis Obispo politics, was elected sheriff and later became a county judge succeeding Romualdo Pacheco, who later became California’s first native-born Governor. Munoz homesteaded the La Loma property during his judgeship.

In 1887, Chona sold the La Loma property to John Corbett (Corbett Canyon) and moved to be with her two daughters in Nipomo. Her daughter, Justina Deleissegues, had married adobe dweller, Frank La Loma: circa early 1900s courtesy of the SLO History Center

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tion and images to expand and authenticate La Loma’s historical background. There is much to learn about the past and current descendants, General Fremont’s visits, weddings that took place, significant events and political visitors. With a family of 10 it is very likely there are descendants and historical events waiting to be discovered.

La Loma in disrepair, 1999

The adobe and surrounding property was gifted to the City of San Luis Obispo in 1995. It is a community treasure to be preserved. Recently San Luis Obispo’s Cultural Heritage Committee recommended the nomination of the La Loma adobe for the National Historic Register. Chona would be proud and honored. Today it is hoped that many of her living descendants will someday soon be able to gather at the La Loma adobe and once again enjoy lovely gardens, grapevines (La Vina) and Nopales cacti.

Dana and another of her daughters, Manuela Munoz, married Frank’s brother Fred Dana.

Ok, so what does this woman born in the middle 1800s, who had 2 husbands, 10 children and lived to be 85, have to do with “Friends” from the 21st century? It is an easy answer as their connection is the La Loma adobe—the very adobe that more than 150 years ago Chona acquired by trading her original Potrero Rancho land grant.

On July 18, 2014, Chona’s new “Friends” officially became known as: Friends of La Loma, a California Non-Profit Public Benefit Corporation with a mission that says it all: “… to raise funds and community support for the restoration, preservation and use of the historic La Loma Adobe.”

The Board of Directors for the new “Friends” Corporation include: President Greg Morris, Vice President Patti Taylor, Secretary Joan Sullivan, Treasurer Bob Jorgensen, Directors: Kenneth Kalkowski, Jan French, Robert Hoover, Pierre Rademaker and Robert Vessley.

City liaison members are: Senior Planner Phil Dunsmore and Natural Resource Manager Bob Hill.

During the Corporation’s early organizational stage, each member expressed a connection to the La Loma adobe and its need to be restored to the once fine structure it used to be. There was a unifying belief that the La Loma adobe and its history should be safeguarded in perpetuity. The adobe is considered a significant example of Spanish Colonial architectural style and is among the few two-story adobes in San Luis Obispo County. It has been vacant since 1953 and needs “Friends.”

The Corporation’s history research committee, chaired by Dr. Robert Hoover, is currently active in search of official records, documenta-

La Loma “Friends” Greg Morris and Jody Marsh, on site.

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history

Patricia Clark’s historical booklet on Mission Plaza

happy birthday slo! (Again)

By Joe Carotenuti

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ast month we journeyed back to 1872 to visit a centennial celebration and some confusion over the city’s founding date. Rather than choosing the date the Mission was established—September 1, 1772—the celebration centered around the feast day of the city’s namesake, St. Louis, Bishop of Toulouse on August 19. Certainly a grand celebration for the small settlement (maybe 1000 residents), part of the program was canceled and the keynote speech “The Establishment of the Missions” was delivered “closer to the date” on September 3. The event also acknowledged that the community was indeed a “progressive” one worthy of celebrating its heritage and historic roots.

Fast forward one hundred years to the Bicentennial celebration. The City had grown to slightly less than 30,000 residents in a County of barely over 100,000. Once again, major festivities differed somewhat as to historical dates. Indeed, the celebration began early not by days or weeks but by a year. This time, the new dates were carefully chosen.

Here’s the story.

A hot Saturday afternoon on September 11, 1971 found a gathering of officials and residents in Mission Plaza. The ceremony was to initiate not only the City’s Bicentennial but an extension of the extraordinary City center. This premier civic addition to the community will be remembered in a future article. However, a lasting surprise was the

unveiling of the first official City flag designed by Marion Kay. Flying today in the Plaza only and not above City Hall, it differs from the one adopted by the City Council.

The following year, Council member Emmons Blake traveled to San Blas, Mexico for a historical perspective. The ships for the 1769 expedition to Alta California originated from San Blas which became a Sister City locally. For the Bicentennial, a delegation from the municipality north of Puerto Vallarta visited San Luis Obispo.

Additionally, local artist Robert Reynolds designed a special image of Serra for a commemorative coin struck in Mexico.

Another gift to that community was the donation of a surplus City fire truck driven south by local firefighters.

The focus for the celebration began with a three day civic extravaganza. Under the direction of ever-enthusiastic and energetic Louisiana Dart, curator of the SLO County Historical Society Museum (now the History Center), the Bicentennial Pageant presented some of the same events seen in the “Parade of the Golden Years” program from 1963.

New scenes were added including William G. Dana taking possession of his Nipomo Rancho grant. The ancient ceremony began as he “entered upon and walked through said land, pulled up grass, scattered handsful (sic) of earth and broke off branches of trees and performed such other ceremonies of true possession as a sign of that which he said

he took and did take of such lands.” Alonzo Dana portrayed his grandfather.

Limited seating required a three day presentation of the twenty episodes beginning on Friday evening, September 7th, in the Veteran’s Memorial Building. Re-enactors treated the audience to a variety of historical vignettes from the indigenous Chumash to the arrival of the Spanish along with subsequent Portuguese whalers and Swiss dairy families. The vener-

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Call your greeter or go to centralcoastwelcome.com

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Louisiana Clayton Dart

A Retirement Facil COMMUNITY

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Even though the prospect of moving m

The Bicentennial Commemorative Coin

There seems to have been a civic you mood owe for public commemorations in future, it to yourself toas learn h 1979, a tenth anniversary was celebrated on the Mission Plaza recalling carefree living in your ownoccurrence home for man its development. Community events have been a common since in the City’s center. A must read is City Librarian Pat Clark’s informative booklet “Mission Plaza: San Luis Obispo: 1772-1979.”

YouChances Don’tare Have Move FeelTercenSafe and most of usto won’t be able to celebrate the City’s

able Ah Louis was portrayed by his youngest son, (Wong) Young. Period gowns galore borrowed from residents as well as Hollywood (some still preserved in the History Center) once worn by local luminaries graced the stage.

A bit early, the pageant ended with “Harry New Year” by the Madonna family. Co-sponsored by the Rotary Club (there was only one locally at the time), funds raised were for the continued rehabilitation of the Dana Adobe in Nipomo.

On Sunday, mindful of its Spanish roots, following a re-enactment ceremony by Padre Junipero Serra “as nearly as possible” of the Mission’s founding, a rededication ceremony was held, presided over by Monterey Diocese Bishop Harry A. Clinch. Mass was concelebrated by the Bishop and priests of the diocese including the pastors of the seven other local missions. The day concluded with a 75 cent per person rib barbeque in the Mission garden prepared by the Knights of Columbus.

The Telegram-Tribune contributed to its hometown celebration with a special insert entitled “200 years of history in Mission and City of San Luis Obispo” consisting of page after page of historical photos as well as commentary. While a tribute to structures of the community, the supplement also sadly reminded everyone of how much had been lost to the present by those who saw little value in preserving the past—an ongoing issue.

As his contribution to the celebration, longtime Telegraph-Tribune writer, Elliot Curry, contributed ten articles of historic nature beginning on August 2. Each is an important episode as the primitive mission settlement was transformed into first a Town and then a City. Short essays included a visitor’s observations in 1831, the disastrous investment of the fabled Casa Grande, an early tract development now filled with homes on the Historic Registry, visits by Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt, and the French Hotel across from the Mission that almost survived destruction by fire.

Children were not forgotten and a colorful memento was their artistry used in a Bicentennial calendar.

but life we can hopeas today’s efforts to preserve ourPristine history andis fully It’s atennial fact of that we get older, heritage will make the celebration an even more memorable affair. some day-to-day tasks become too licensed and insu Contact: jacarotenuti@gmail.com much to handle on our own. That All of our worke Visit a display of the City’s original flag in the rotunda of City Hall. doesn’t mean you have to move away are carefully scre from the comfort of your home. and pass a crimin • Personal Pristine Home Services is• aHousekeeping local background chec Care that helps San Luis Obispo and drug test, giv • Yard company • Handyman Maintenance County residents avoid the high cost when someone f Servingof moving All oftoSan Luis Obispo County a retirement facility. in your home.

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soupabration!

a tasty kettle of fundraising fun

By Charmaine Coimbra photos by Gaelen Casey

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t started with a bottle of local Syrah on a boat docked in Morro Bay. My quandary was to create an event that raised funds for a local nonprofit that wasn’t what my husband calls, “Oh No! Not Another Cold Chicken Dinner and Auction!” (I was actually tempted to use that very name for that exact sort of fundraiser, thinking, “Clever!”) Instead, I recollected a popular event in Santa Fe, NM that featured local chefs and soups—a homeless shelter fundraiser. My nonprofit wasn’t for homeless issues, but what’s more Central Coast, especially on a foggy night, than a pot of soup, some wine, and tasty breads?

As I swirled the final swallow of that smokey berry-laden Syrah, the soup idea was a go. We kept the ticket prices low, with a separate fee (along with the basic ticket) for those who wanted to taste wine. The next challenge was to make it happen.

Our community, even though spread out, is well connected and I wanted a legitimate contest among our local chefs for the awarding of the best soups around. Two Los Angeles based celebrity chefs agreed to help out, and a few local media personalities (totally unbiased, as the profession requires. Quit laughing,) made up our five celebrity judges.

Now the local chefs were intrigued and some of SLO county’s best participated in that first event in 2010.

The event migrated from “A Grand Ole Soupabration” in a barn, to the 2014 version, Soupabration!, set this year in the Morro Bay Community Center on Sunday afternoon, November 2. The basics remain but the event has grown and now has a faithful foodie following.

Fourteen chefs representing a good deal of the county, are set to brew their best “Soups for the Holidays,” this year’s theme.

Judging the artisan concoctions this year are Chef William Werner, a 2013 James Beard nominee and owner of the edgy San Francisco eatery, Craftsman & Wolves; Chef Philip Riccomini, executive chef Paso Robles Culinary Institute; Hal Abrams, host of Animal Radio and founder of 97.3 The Rock in Morro Bay; Lynne Andujar, editor-inchief 805 Living Magazine; and Neil Farrell, Bay News editor.

This year’s chefs include or represent 60 State Park Restaurant & Lounge; Apple Farm Restaurant; Blue Skye Coastal Cafe; Divine Street Catering; Fig Good Food; Jeffrys Catering (cq); Linn’s Restaurant; Manta Rey Restaurant; Robin’s Restaurant; Roxanne’s Cafe; Second Press Wine Bar & Eatery; Shine Cafe; Simply Delicious Events; and Sunset Grill.

THE SAN LUIS OBISPO COUNTY ENERGY COACH ?

COLD

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? TOO O HOT O T E HOUS

About a half-dozen artisan food exhibitors will offer tastings that range from olives to chocolate to jerky and coffee.

Call

! l u Pa

For a FREE Home Assess ment, Please Contact Us at: (805) 781-5982 www.empowersbc.org empower@co.slo.ca.us This Program is funded by California utility ratepayers and administered by Southern California Gas Company,

Southern California Edison and Pacific Gas & Electric under the auspices of the California Public Utilities Commission.

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Local boutique wineries will offer tastings along with some locally crafted beer samplings. (This is via a separate ticket that includes a souvenir wine glass.)

Several of the chefs will demonstrate their ideas for holiday soups and foods.

But the real stars of Soupabration! are Pacific Wildlife Cares’ (PWC) wildlife ambassadors.

They showcase why PWC is the event’s beneficiary. Pacific Wildlife Care serves the entire SLO County wildlife through rehabilitation and educational outreach. In 2013, PWC took in more than 2,000 birds, mammals and reptiles for the second year in a row. Their treatment facility in Morro Bay

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OCTOBER CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS ON PAGE 43

includes SLO County’s only wildlife veterinarian, Dr. Shannon Riggs.

Tickets are available online at www.soupabration.org. For additional information email soupabration@live.org. © StatePoint Media

STATEPOINT CROSSWORD THEME: FOOTBALL ACROSS 1. 1. Figure of speech 6. School org.

9. *Where official places football after a play 13. *Often twirled at football games 14. Nocturnal flyer 15. Ma Bell, e.g.

16. Artificial leg 17. Also 18. Neptune’s realm 19. *Team with most NFL championships 21. *_______ league 23. “___ you sure?”

24. Dateless 25. David Alan Grier’s initials 28. “I ____ the sheriff...”

30. Uproar 35. The Colosseum today, e.g.

37. Mimicked 39. Inspiration for poets and musicians

40. Oscar winner and directed by Ben Affleck 41. Donkey in Latin America 43. All over 44. Animals of a particular region 46. *Football center move 47. Viscount’s superior 48. Start a golf hole 50. *BYU Cougars’ home state 52. Fleur-de-___ 53. Soap bubbles 55. Not decaf.

57. *Princeton opponent in what is considered first college game 61. Caribbean Sea island country 65. Finno-_____ language 66. Club on a card, e.g.

68. *Home to the Dolphins 69. Michael Moore’s hometown 70. Pitcher’s stat 71. Painter _____ Degas 72. Ficus tree fruit, pl.

73. A Bobbsey twin 74. Swarms

DOWN 1. Recipe abbreviation 2. Pro ____ 3. Ear-related 4. “Roll Out the Barrel” dance 5. Comes in 6. Used for stewing, pl.

7. *Sometimes a team goes for this after a TD 8. High up 9. Religious offshoot 10. Legal action 11. South American wood sorrels 12. *____ Romo 15. *Part of a football cleat 20. *What players do to help fix injured joint or limb 22. “I see!”

24. Chest bone 25. *It includes 7 rounds 26. Saintly glow, pl.

27. Jig, in France 29. “Moonlight Sonata,” e.g.

31. Highlands hillside

32. Trite or hackneyed 33. Wombs 34. *Sugar and Orange, e.g.

36. Not to be done, especially for a baby 38. Exclamation of annoyance 42. Style of abstractionism popular in 1960s 45. Change 49. In favor of 51. *Concussion preventer 54. Colorado resort 56. Seeing eye dog, e.g.

57. Queen Elizabeth I’s neckwear 58. Tangerine grapefruit hybrid 59. Type of math 60. Tanqueray and Bombay Sapphire, e.g.

61. Extended time period 62. “Leaving Las Vegas” Oscar winner 63. Prayer leader in mosque 64. Manners intended to impress 67. A retirement plan

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palm street perspective

measure g— the new 1/2% sales tax

By SLO City Councilman, Dan Carpenter

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lection Day is just a few weeks away, and San Luis Obispo voters will have many important decisions to make. Residents will be asked to approve Measure G, a new ½% sales tax measure. The previous Measure Y will appropriately expire in March of 2015 after its eight year duration. Supporters of Measure G are calling this new tax an extension of Measure Y which is fabricating the truth. “8 years only” is the explicit and unequivocal language approved by voters in 2006 without a provision for extension. Proponents intentionally and fallaciously manipulate the truth in hopes of ascertaining an affirmative vote. It’s no secret that Measure G being a new tax creates a higher propensity for failure on a ballot littered with other tax and bond measures. The demagoguery about how appropriately Measure Y revenue was spent is deceptive when every penny of this tax is fungible and cannot be tracked with any level of credibility. An impartial audit done by a local CPA and member of the advisory committee on Measure Y, methodically and categorically confirms that spending for capital improvement projects (CIP’s) has remained constant (below minimum maintenance standards) the past 15 years, while staffing costs have escalated at an alarming rate consuming the bulk of the revenue from Measure Y.

In 2006 Measure Y was sold with many promises. None authenticated because this general purpose tax allows your untethered City Council to spend these resources impulsively. Don’t be fooled by the marketing obfuscation. The public’s priorities can be willfully ignored while councilmembers’ personal agendas are delivered with ease under the cover of “unavoidable reprioritization of resources.”

A ½% sales tax measure will generate about $7 million a year in revenue. Propaganda depicted from a staff directed survey indicates the vast majority of the revenue comes from non-city residents.

Those facts cannot be substantiated as sales tax transactions are not tracked by consumer residency. The revenue generated from this new tax could have tremendous benefits to the city if the money were appropriated responsibly. We’re deficient in our commitments to so many areas of maintenance and CIP’s that if those funds were actually spent in those areas it would have a significant positive impact on our long term sustainability. This general purpose tax is not a commitment to those needs.

During the public hearing process of placing the measure on the ballot, I tried exhaustively to get my colleagues to commit a significant amount of these revenues towards reducing our growing unfunded pension debt. The hubris demeanor of my colleagues was astounding as they callously avoided deliberation. I even appealed to our business partner organizations to leverage their support thinking that might jar the lethargic dispositions. The silence was deafening as you can imagine the sinking feeling of confliction. Based on recent posturing, I’m confident my colleagues’ surreptitious agenda is to raise employee’s salaries and benefits while not being encumbered by a commitment to reduce our enormous pension debt. This is the most egregious and culpable act of fiscal mismanagement your elected representatives could execute. Stay tuned this fall as we take action on new contracts with our union represented employees.

Included in the new tax measure is a compensated Revenue Enhancement Oversight Committee (REOC). Why does Council need to be advised on this ½% sales tax when we’re not being advised on the other 1% we oversee? At what point do my colleagues take responsibility and quit deflecting? This committee is frivolous and unnecessary as it subverts the primary responsibility of council, ultimately providing a cover of insulation for them.

California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) struggled with earnings from its investments during the early stages of the recession in 2008-2009. That prompted Governor Brown to enact significant pension reform measures. We just learned in August of this year the CalPERS Board (mostly union reps) have invoked 100 new spiking opportunities for new employees hired after January 2013, when the reforms were enacted. This will allow employees who come in on second and third tier hires to spike their pensions thus wiping out all the reforms enacted. SLO’s pension debt is expected to exceed $150 million when current projections are disclosed, an increase of $20 million a year over the last three years with no end in sight.

Either we continue this revenue addiction and irresponsible spending or we break the cycle and live within our means. It’s your choice and I will respect the will of the voters as I continue to serve at the pleasure of those I represent.

On November 4th, you’ll also have the opportunity to elect three new members to our city council. Please recognize that judicious fiscal oversight is the primary responsibility of your elected representatives.

As always, it’s a pleasure to serve you with the TRUTH and I look forward to the challenges we face together in the remainder of my time on City Council.

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Downtown

Around

The Magazine of Downtown San Luis Obispo

Inside:

October 2014

W hat ’s U p Downtown B usiness Spo tlights

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s a kid I remember October as one of the tarting out on October 9 the Downtown most exciting months of the year. The weather Association will host our annual Fire Prevention was changing from warm summer days to brisk Night at Thursday Night Farmers’ Market where mornings with winds blowing down the streets local fire agencies will be on the street helping to like a gentle reminder that Thanksgiving was just promote fire safety and education. For all of the around the corner and Hallowe'en was here. There kids who are dreaming of becoming a firefighter was always that last minute scramble to figure out someday, they have a chance to meet the local a costume for the costume contest and carnival at men and women who put their lives on the line the school that I was now settled in at and busy each time a fire or emergency breaks out. Kids with studies. As I have grown older not much has Dominic Tartaglia, are encouraged to ask changed. I still scramble for a last minute costume Executive Director questions and interact and look forward to the brisk jogs in the morning with the firefighters and and cool evenings with a warm cocoa or an Oktoberfest equipment to help them learn the beer. dangers associated with fire and how to stay safe in the case of an or many people this tradition holds true. October brings emergency. out their jeans and sweaters and they trade in their flip flops at Port San Luis for a pair of boots and a trip to Avila irefighters won’t be the only Valley Barn. Year after year, that tradition continues and it’s attraction at the Market this no different for Downtown San Luis Obispo. As you will October. Pumpkins are back see this month, the change of seasons also brings a change by popular demand as well. of styles in the store windows and on the menu boards In particular the SLO County Fire Prevention Night 2013 of local coffee shops as pumpkin spices and ciders make Great Pumpkin Contest is back their way back into the hands of Downtown shoppers. in Mission Plaza on October 16 where the biggest and Our office will also stay true to our roots and continue most unusual pumpkins from across the Central Coast are our annual October events and Downtown promotions in weighed and critiqued. Last year several tons of pumpkins conjunction with other community groups. were delivered to Mission Plaza to be weighed

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On the Cover: "Yabba Dabba Doo" Downtown Brown dressed up as Fred Flintstone for last year's Hallowe'en Festivities at Thursday Night Farmers' Market. Photo by: Mukta Naran

FIRE PREVENTION NIGHT Thursday, October 9 @ Thursday Night Promotions Farmers’ Market 6-9 PM Downtown SLO

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SLO Downtown Association Presents...

Hallowe’en Festivities @ Thursday Night Promotions Farmers’ Market

T h u r s d ay , O c t o b e r 3 0

D o w n t o w n T r i c k - o r - T r e at Sponsored by: Sean

M. Lee, Broker, GRI. THE REAL ESTATE COMPANY

KIDS! SAFE and FUN Trick - or - Treating in participating Downtown Businesses 5 - 8 PM. Maps and treat bags at the corner of Chorro and Higuera streets.

Come help us celebrate National Fire Prevention Week “Smoke Alarms Save Lives: Test Yours Every Month”

Hallowe’en costume contest Sponsored by:

Yogurt Creations

Goblins and Princesses wanted! Get creative and compete for some ‘wickedly’ cool prizes. Age groups: 0 - 2, 3 - 4, 5 - 8, 9 - 12, and Pairs (can include older children, parents and pets!)The KJUG JUG and emcee will be on location. Sign - ups begin at 5 PM at the corner of Chorro and Higuera streets, contest runs from 6:15 - 8 PM.

P u m p k i n s o n P a ra d e

Photo opportunity with GIANT pumpkins on the corner of Chorro and Higuera streets.

Meet firefighting heroes from all over San Luis Obispo County and see the newest equipment used in fire safety!

(805) 541 - 0286 or www.DowntownSLO.com for more info

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and put on display for the public to admire. Since 2006 this mid-October event has complimented the Thursday Night Farmers’ Market and set the tone for even more pumpkin exposure with Pumpkins on Parade. Pumpkins on Parade is a special event occurring over the period of two Thursday Night Farmers’ Markets where the public can see a variety of different pumpkins and pose for a photo among the seasonally themed backdrop of straw and pumpkins. n addition to Pumpkins on Parade on October 23, Cal Poly will be out with their exciting and interactive display of clubs from the College of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences. With programs and clubs ranging from Agricultural Science to Tractor Pull you can expect to find something of interest for everybody including information on local crops, like pumpkins. If you come down to the Market on that night you can’t miss the festivities, simply look for the large Tractor Pull Club tractor and all of the green and gold.

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o finish off the month the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association will again host our Hallowe’en Festivities for local children at the Market. Children are given an extra night to don their best Hallowe'en costumes and participate in two exciting events. The Downtown Hallowe’en Trick-or-Treat is back this year with new businesses participating and the same great fun for kids as they go from business to business in search of the best candy and goodies so they can preload on that sugar for

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the much needed energy they will use on stage at the costume contest. Various categories exist for kids to show off their costumes in an effort to compete for prizes and the honor of being crowned best dressed. his year as the winds of October blow in I am looking forward to brisk morning walks to work, the additional dusting of nutmeg on every drink available, piles of pumpkins and gourds at the Market, festive window designs and of course the smile on the faces of kids as they fill their Downtown Hallowe'en bags with candy and tour Festivities 2013 the Market in costume. Come and enjoy all that October has to offer in Downtown San Luis Obispo.

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For more information on Downtown Association events, programs and activities, or to sign up for our weekly Deliver-E newsletter, visit www.DowntownSLO.com

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D o w n t o w n PolyPay

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olyPay also has many other unique Jamie Barlett, Owner (Pictured right) Ashley Gorman, Media Relations Manager (Pictured left) characteristics to bring to the table that set them 999 Monterey Street, Suite 380 apart from other merchant (805) 550-7485 processing firms. Being www.PolyPay.com a local firm, they are on ntrepreneurship at Cal Poly has led to the growth and their clients’ time and are development of several Downtown businesses, most ready and willing to serve recently PolyPay. PolyPay, located above Court Street at them whenever, wherever.

999 Monterey Street, Suite 380, offers premier merchant In comparison to other processing services. PolyPay has partnered with First Data, companies in the industry, they are a very young group, the leading merchant processor in the United States, to offer offering a greater insight into what’s new in technology and premier merchant data analytics and processing services. customer service. wner Jamie Barlett decided San Luis Obispo was, olyPay prides itself on building relationships and would “the perfectly sized city to open our doors in.” Being love to get to know many of the businesses Downtown.

Downtown is also important to Barlett because of the If your business deals with point of sale systems or other proximity to her potential clients. PolyPay wants to be able credit card processing, PolyPay would love to hear your to be “just a phone call or street away” from any issues that frustrations, wants and needs in order to gain knowledge as clients may have with their services. While her employees well as to see if they can offer you a solution. are all Cal Poly graduates, the name PolyPay is more of a By: Emily Seropian reference to providing their customers many ways to pay.

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salon. One year ago, they David Stewart (pictured right) & Mark Padgett (pictured spotted a sign on Marsh Street advertising a new left), Owners building that offered 575 Marsh Street commercial space to (805) 439-3445 purchase. Four months www.ParlourOnline.com ago David provided www.facebook.com/ParlourEnterprises services for the first time arlour [pahr-ler] noun; a somewhat private room in a in their new salon in the hotel, club, or the like for relaxation, conversation, etc.; Marsh Street Commons lounge. building at 575 Marsh wenty-one years ago, fresh out of Beauty College, David Street. Weeks ago, Parlour began running at full steam with Stewart started working at the Bladerunner in Downtown eight stylists who provide expert color, cut, styling and San Luis Obispo. Twelve years ago Stewart and his partner barbering services. Five minutes ago, Mark and David took Mark Padgett started looking for a space to open their own a long deep breath.

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dedicated to creating this business and making it his masterpiece.

Samir Aburashed, Owner After three years of work and 1133 Garden Street visiting over 400 different boba (805) 704-7970 shops around the world to gather www.facebook.com/DowntownBoba ideas he was able to put his ou’ve probably had a smoothie or a milkshake, but how business into motion. about boba? You can now try this new trendy drink at e chose the Downtown Downtown Boba! Samir Aburashed, a Cal Poly graduate area because he felt there and owner of Downtown Boba, describes his business needed to be more diversity and as creating “a beverage experience.” The menu is full of his store hours are conducive delicious fresh teas, milk teas, slushies, snow bubbles and frappes containing tapioca pearls known as “boba.” On top to the nightlife of Downtown of the drinks, the menu also contains dessert crepes with a San Luis Obispo. This boba bar is open from 11 AM to 11 number of sweet toppings such as fruit, Nutella and even PM Sunday through Thursday and 11 AM to 2 AM both ice cream.

Friday and Saturday. Downtown Boba currently gives owntown Boba gives customers products that wouldn’t discounts to both Cal Poly students as well as Downtown otherwise be available to them. Their business is built employees. Aburashed really wants to tie his business to the directly around great customer service and creating the Downtown SLO and Cal Poly community. Next time you best possible experience for the customer. Downtown Boba are Downtown stop in at 1133 Garden Street and try some separates itself because of the ideal central location as well boba! as the detail put into the store. Aburashed became very By: Kayla Adair

Downtown Boba

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Mortgage facts and fiction Unraveling the myths of the Mortgage maze

By Roxanne Carr

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hen I finished my last article (July 2014), I promised I would continue with little-known mortgage facts or things that we run into that often surprise our clients. As I said at that time, in this crazy, complicated mortgage financing world, there are often misquoted guidelines or misunderstood rules that could stand in the way of someone trying to buy or refinance a home.

Of course, any basic facts noted herein are always centered on the individual case and all the facts surrounding the proposed borrower and their unique circumstances.

Self-Employed Income If someone owns 25% or more of a Partnership or S-Corp (small corporation), they are considered by lending guidelines to be owners, and a history of the business income or loss will need to be analyzed in order for the application to be reviewed properly. Any income or loss would be counted in their qualifying. Whenever business income (or loss) is being evaluated, copies of all tax returns for the most recent two years must be supplied, all pages, all entities, and verified through the IRS before closing.

Additional Income from Assets If an applicant needs a little more income to aid in qualifying for the mortgage, additional income can be allocated off the balance of any of tax-sheltered retirement accounts (IRA, 401k, etc.) as long as the applicant is of retirement age and not taking regular distributions from the account.

Retirement Account Loans Speaking of 401k accounts, generally a lender will not need to charge the applicant with any payment on an existing loan if there are sufficient funds in the account to pay the loan in full.

More than One Primary Residence Fannie Mae guidelines allow the opportunity for a person to purchase another primary residence even if they already have a primary residence and intend to keep it: - if the purpose is to obtain a loan for an elderly parent or disabled adult child.

- if children want to provide housing for a parent or parents who do not have sufficient income to qualify; the child is considered the owner-occupant.

Condominium Project Review Customarily, all condominium projects require a review as to their history and stability. A full review for most lenders occurs when the proposed loan is for more than an 80% LTV on a primary residence or more than 75% on a second home. The full review requires the lender

to study the financials of the project, including the budget, balance sheet, P&L and reserves. A limited review allows a much less intense study. Always allow additional time for a purchase or refinance in a condominium project; they are conducted to assure that you are buying in a stable, well-managed project.

Manufactured vs. Mobile vs. Modular Homes Among lenders, there is a wide difference between manufactured or mobile homes, and finding financing can be difficult. Mobile homes are considered to be those homes than can be moved.

Manufactured generally refers to homes that were mobile, but have been placed on permanent foundations. The towing hitch, wheels and axles must have been removed. Special guidelines apply for any kind of government or conventional financing on these types of homes and will vary from lender to lender. Modular homes are usually those that are built offsite, at a factory, and then delivered for installation on a plot of land; they generally qualify for standard “stick-built” financing, though frequently are confused with Manufactured homes.

Property Tax Assessments Remember to check with the County Tax Assessor’s office or online resources if you have any questions about property taxes. For example, if you are 55 years of age or older and buying a new primary residence of equal or lesser value within the same county, California law allows a onetime transfer of the tax base of that former primary residence to your new one.

Derogatory Credit We find people are surprised by how long bad credit ratings will remain on their reports, and they often see contradictory information. One of the reasons for this is that the three major credit bureaus (Experian, TransUnion and Equifax) may treat credit history differently. Generally, regular tradeline items should drop off credit reports after 7 years, collections 7 years from the date of the maximum delinquency with the original creditor, judgments 7 years from the filing date, bankruptcies 10 years from the filing date.

Regardless of what you may run into when applying for a home loan, it is always wise to work with a mortgage professional. The rules change often and seem to get more complex every day.

Copyright © 2014 Roxanne Carr Roxanne Carr is division president of The Mortgage House, Inc. She has over 35 years’ experience in the mortgage banking industry. Your emailed questions are welcomed through her website at: www.themortgagehouse.com or call her at 1-800-644-4030. This article is a forum to explore real estate principles. It is not intended to provide tax, legal, insurance or investment advice and should not be relied upon for any of these purposes.

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louie ortega is honorary chair for united way

United Way of SLO County is pleased to announce that Grammy Award winning musician and United Way supporter, Louie Ortega has agreed to serve as our Honorary Chairperson for the 2014-15 campaign. Louie Ortega is perhaps best known nationally and internationally for his unobtrusive yet fortifying guitar licks and warm, smooth vocals. Louie also contributes thousands of dollars annually to various nonprofit organizations in support of social services organizations and the arts such as United Way, Veterans and the SLO Symphony. Ortega gives back tirelessly to the community asking nothing in return, and nonprofits have been the fortunate recipients of his generosity for years. United Way felt that it was time for the community to be made aware of his philanthropic donations in this county and invited him to be our Honorary Campaign Chair.

slo noor clinic to double all donations

A local anonymous philanthropist has issued a challenge to the community: they will match dollar for dollar all funds raised for the SLO Noor Clinic through the end of the year. The challenge could generate thousands of life saving dollars for the SLO Noor Clinic. The simplest way to help is to visit slonoorfoundation.org/ donate. Donations can also be made by mailing a check to the SLO Noor Clinic located at 1428 Phillips Lane, Suite B-4, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. All donations are tax deductible. The anonymous philanthropist chose the SLO Noor Clinic for the good work it has done to provide high quality health care for thousands in our community. Recently the SLO Noor Clinic opened the SLO Noor Dental Clinic to provide oral care for those who cannot afford dental services. All patient care is provided free of cost to anyone who is uninsured and in need of health care, vision or dental services. For more information on the SLO Noor Clinic log onto slonoorfoundation.org/ or call (805) 439-1797.

local students win viticulture scholarships

free toilet upgrades available in los osos

Los Osos residents only have until the end of 2014 to take advantage of rebates that will cover the full cost of upgrading to low-flow toilets. The rebates are offered by the County of SLO and also cover low-flow showerheads and faucet aerators. The Los Osos Water Conservation Rebate Program will continue through the end of 2015, however higher rebate incentives that cover installation costs are only available for those who participate through 2014. The rebate amounts will be reduced at the beginning of 2015, so residents are urged to apply now to get the most money back. For complete program details, including eligibility and information about whether your current fixtures are in compliance, visit www.conservelososos.org.

opera slo presents verdi’s aida

Tickets are now on sale for Giuseppe Verdi’s world-famous Aida, on October 11th and 12th. Aida will be conducted by Brian Asher Alhadeff, Artistic Director of Opera SLO, and will collaborate with Ballet Theatre SLO, Central Coast Children’s Choir, SLO Civic Ballet, CORE Dance Company, Deyo Dancers and American Dance Studio.

For more information or tickets go to pacslo.org or call 756-4849.

The Independent Grape Growers of the Paso Robles Area (IGGPRA), an association dedicated to the advancement of superior wine grape growing, has announced its two local scholarship winners for the 2014-2015 academic year: Linda Jaimez, and Adam Hinrichs. Each student will receive $3,000 toward college tuition fees as they pursue degrees in viticulture-related fields. Scholarship winner Adam Hinrichs, recent graduate of Templeton High School, will study Agricultural Engineering at Cal Lutheran. Scholarship winner Linda Jaimez, a Paso Robles native and current fourth year viticulture major at Fresno State University, is studying to become a vineyard

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manager and hopes to return to the Paso Robles community to work in the industry after graduation. IGGPRA initiated its viticulture scholarship program in 2012. Students interested in applying for scholarships may contact IGGPRA Scholarship Committee Chair Bob Fonarow at (805) 857-4400 for an application. Pictured left to right: IGGPRA President Ken Bray, Anabel, Lourdes, Carlos and Linda Jaimez (scholarship winner) and IGGPRA Treasurer/Scholarship Committee Chairman Bob Fonarow. Scholarship winner Adam Hinrichs is not pictured.

THE BULLETIN BOARD

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feline network’s adopt a pet event

The Feline Network has cats and kittens available for adoption every Saturday from 11 to 3 at PETCO in the Madonna Plaza Shopping Center in SLO. There are many loving and adorable felines who need homes! Cats and kittens are spayed or neutered, tested and vaccinated prior to adoption. The adoption fee is $60 for one or $80 for two. A free vet examination is included. “We offer a discount to adopt a pair because cats and kittens are social animals and they benefit greatly from having cat companionship,” said Christine Collie, Feline Network board member. “And as a pet owner, having a pair of kitties is much more entertaining than a single cat.” The Feline Network is an all-volunteer organization that works with local veterinarians who generously donate their time and provide medical services at discounted fees. For information on adoptions, low-cost spay/neuter, help with feral cats or to volunteer or donate, please contact us at 549-9228 (549-9CAT) or online at www.felinenetwork.org. Free semitame mousers are also available.

free senior health care screening

donation check presented to friends of prado

The San Luis Obispo Downtown Association has been working collectively with the City of San Luis Obispo and United Way to increase local awareness about local homelessness and raise funds to help local individuals and families get back on their feet. Last month the three organizations presented a check in the sum of $8,500 to the Friends of Prado Day Center Board of Directors. Some of the funds were donated by the public at the seven Make Change Meter stations throughout Downtown SLO over the past several months.

To learn more about the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association’s involvement or about the Make Change Count meter program please visit www.DowntownSLO.com

C rossword S O L U T I O N S

Screening for adults and seniors is available throughout San Luis Obispo County. Free services include: screening for high blood pressure, weight and pulse. Finger prick screening tests for: high cholesterol, anemia and blood sugar. Counseling and referrals as needed. Please call 544-2484 ext. 1 for dates, times and locations.

7th annual Dogtoberfest

Come one, come all to Heilmann Dog Park’s 7th Annual Dogtoberfest to be held at Atascadero Lake Park on Saturday, October 4th from 10am to 3pm. The event includes the always hilarious and wacky Wiener Dog Races and Wiener Wannabe Races that are open to any dog 25 pounds or less. Wiener dogs & Wiener Wannabes race in separate heats according to age brackets of puppy, adult, & senior.

The two top race winners in each heat advance to the next round.

Each dog needs two handlers, one to “release” the dog onto the track at the “go” signal, and a “catcher” at the track end. Registration and race details are also available online at heilmanndogpark.com, www. parks4pups.org or by calling (805) 461-5749.

Help our local Veterans

VA clinic in San Luis is asking for volunteers to serve our Veterans as shuttle drivers. To help pay tribute and express your appreciation for their service, learn about volunteering at your local VA clinic. For more information contact your local VA volunteer representative Mr. Larry Foster at 805-354-6004 or send an email to Lawrence.Foster@va.gov.

Gary A. Sage License No. 0E02096 100 Cross Street, Suite 203 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 gsage@dibu.com O C T O B E R

2014

(805) 593-1400 (805) 593-1401 fax (805) 593-1413 direct (805) 235-1043 cell Journal PLUS

THE BULLETIN BOARD

44

united way prepared kids for back-to-school

United Way of SLO County coordinated two efforts to send children back to school with the tools they need to succeed: KidSpree, a shopping event that provides children with school appropriate clothing, and Stuff the Bus, a school supply drive supporting local schools, teachers and families. A record-breaking 250 local children were sponsored for the 17th annual KidSpree. Thanks to the community’s generosity, these children returned to school this fall with pride and self-esteem. KidSpree was held at Kohl’s in Paso Robles and San Luis. The K-12 children were nominated by local nonprofit agencies and were paired with a local community volunteer to help them shop for the items they most needed. Each of the Kohl’s stores waived sales tax and offered additional discounts. The SLO County YMCA fingerprinted all volunteers, free of charge. The Kiwanis Club of BayOsos provided breakfast for participants, families and the volunteers after the spree. Pictured above is volunteer shopping assistant, Cornelia Liegl, with shopper, Kevin, at KidSpree 2014.

santa maria fairpark announces new ceo

The Board of Directors of the Santa Maria Fairpark, 37th District Agricultural Association has announced the selection of Richard Persons as the new Chief Executive Officer. Persons, who will replace recently retired CEO Dennis Pearson, comes to the Santa Maria Fairpark from Lakeport, CA. Mr. Persons has nearly three decades of experience working in the California fair industry and has held the position of CEO of the 49th District Agricultural Association in Lakeport since 1996.

women’s shelter program receives $215,000

The Women’s Shelter Program of SLO County was recently awarded a $215,000 two-year grant from the Blue Shield of California Foundation to promote domestic violence and healthcare safety net partnerships that address and prevent domestic violence through integrated models of service and system-level improvements. This grant was one of only two awarded in the entire state of California during the most recent funding cycle. The grant will create an innovative project that will furnish the training necessary for local

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medical professionals to provide domestic violence assessment and referrals while also seeking to empower local domestic violence victims to obtain needed health services. The Women’s Shelter Program has been providing services to the local community since 1979. Agency services include Emergency Shelter, Transitional Housing, Child Abuse Treatment, Counseling, Case Management, Outreach/Education and Latina Services. For more information visit www.wspslo.org.

Alpha receives $15,000 grant

ALPHA Pregnancy & Parenting Support received grant funding totaling $15,000 from the County and City of San Luis Obispo.

Specifically, to be used for ALPHA’s Essential Nutrition: Infant Formula Program and its Prenatal to Postpartum Crises Prevention Support program. Since 1980, ALPHA Pregnancy & Parenting Support is a nonprofit organization providing support, practical assistance during pregnancy through a child’s first year, and education on pregnancy and early parenting throughout SLO County. To learn more about ALPHA’s comprehensive and interculturally competent services and programs, please call 805541-3367 or visit www.sloalpha.org.

dimensions in dance fall concert

DIMENSIONS IN DANCE, Allan Hancock College’s annual fall concert, runs October 16-19 in the Marian Theatre in Santa Maria on the college’s main campus. Eleven original dances performed and choreographed by faculty and students include ballet, modern, jazz, hip-hop, contemporary, tap and folk. Shows are 7 p.m. Thursday through Saturday and 2 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Children ages five and older are welcome to attend. Tickets ($13 & $15) are available at the college’s Performing Arts Center Box Office or by calling 922-8313.

women lawyers assoc. Awards scholarships

The WLA SLO is excited to announce that they have selected four recipients to receive the 2014 WLA Scholarship awards given to law students or students accepted for enrollment in law school with a demonstrated connection to SLO County. Congratulations to: Ekaterina Barron (2L, Golden Gate University College of Law), Tabitha Smith (1L, University of California Hastings College of Law), Sadie Weller (1L, UC Davis College of Law), and Melissa Newman (4L, San Luis Obispo School of Law). Founded in 1981, the Women Lawyers Association of SLO County assists in the advancement of women in the legal profession and in the community at large. WLA SLO is an unincorporated association, and members meet on the first Wednesday of each month to enjoy lunch, networking, and educational presentations offering MCLE credit. Membership is open to men and women.

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cuesta college 25th scholarship reception

Cuesta College held its 25th annual scholarship reception recently to bring together scholarship recipients and donors. Some of the highlights included: Amount distributed this year: nearly $262K. This was a 10% increase from last year. The average scholarship recipient receives $582.

Scholarship amounts range $75-$1,700. Approximately 160 donors and scholarship recipients attended the event. Total of 279 students received scholarships. Nearly 400 scholarships were awarded this year from 163 donors.

botanical garden fall plant sale

Our Fall Plant Sale Fundraiser at the SLO Botanical Garden is on Saturday October 4th, from 10am to 1pm. Buy drought-tolerant plants from your favorite non-profit botanical garden at our annual Fall Plant Sale. Join us in the greenhouse for a huge selection of high quality volunteer grown plants.

Talk with plant experts, sip free coffee and browse our lightly used gardening book selection. Garden members can start shopping at 9 AM. More info at slobg.org/sale.

SLO Nighttime kiwanis honors dale winslow

The SLO Nighttime Kiwanis Club (de Tolosa) held its installation dinner last month honoring Dale Winslow as Kiwanian of the year.

Winslow has held every position in the club including President during his decades of community service with Kiwanis. This last year he coordinated all communications between the membership.

Pictured with Winslow (left) is outgoing President, Greg Saunders and incoming President, George Petty. Kiwanis International enters its 100th year this next January.

cambria Scarecrow festival

During the entire month of October the villages of Cambria and San Simeon are displaying hundreds of artfully crafted scarecrows throughout the towns. Last year there were more than 425 displays.

This year the scarecrows have gone hi-tech. Each one has it own QR code so you can call up fascinating details about the scarecrow on your smart phone or tablet. For more information call 927-2597 or go to their website at cambriascarecrows.com

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COMMUNITY

46

eye on business

kids, bikes and bond measures

W

By Maggie Cox, Barnett Cox & Associates

hat does a group of bike riding young kids have to do with business? In my opinion, everything. I was struck by this recently while having a conversation with Laurie DeSchryver, mom of two young children who attend Los Ranchos Elementary School, where Laurie is the PTA president. We were talking kids and school and living in SLO and Laurie told me that a group of about 30 neighborhood kids in Rolling Hills ride their bikes to school together every day.

I loved her story for a number of reasons. It took me back to my own childhood and the fun of heading to school with a bunch of kids.

It made me feel good that our community is a safe place where kids can be carefree. I flashed on my own now-grown daughters and memories of what a great community this was to raise children. And it jolted me into thinking about how fast time passes and how quickly today’s children will be young adults. And that’s where the business connection comes in.

I’ve been part of the SLO business community for 30 years, and I know firsthand how local kids grow up to be local employees. Great employees are critical to the success of any busi-

ness, especially in today’s world where technology is a part of every profession. Whether medicine or agriculture or hospitality; construction or art or even marketing, there is not a job today that doesn’t demand the employee be well versed in more than academics. Today’s youngsters—tomorrow’s employees, business owners, community leaders—deserve an education that’s in step with the world that awaits them.

There are two local bond measures on the ballot this November whose passage are lynchpins to the process: one for San Luis Coastal Unified School District (Measure D), and one for Cuesta Community College (Measure L).

The bonds will be paid for through a property tax assessment to fund desperately needed improvements to the physical facilities of SLO High, Morro Bay High and Cuesta College.

Now, if you don’t have direct involvement with any of these campuses, you may think “desperately” is an overstatement. San Luis High is an elegant old structure on a beautiful piece of property. Morro Bay High offers waterfront views. And Cuesta’s signature buildings look large and proud. Look beyond the facades of paint and landscaping and you’ll find shocking

conditions: crumbling buildings, outdated, windowless rooms. Inadequate classroom space. Funky old computers and 8 track cassette players. Patched together alarm systems, cracks and decay and buildings in need of help. Bond measures are the only means of funding capital improvements, and these improvements are long, long overdue.

You’ll be hearing plenty about these measures in the next few weeks. For this column, I am just asking you to think about those kids on bikes and what they mean to our community.

Think of the generation or two or three of kids who preceded them and what they’ve meant to the community. Add to that the very real fact that many new employees are drawn here because of the good education available to their children. Today’s kids have talent and drive. They deserve to learn in facilities built for success. And whether we have children in local schools or not, education is key to our community’s health and is a responsibility for all of us to share.

Learn more and I think you’ll agree that Measure D and Measure L are all about our future.

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