April 2016 Journal Plus Magazine

EVA ULZ | THE SHERWINS | LIZ LEE & MARK MCCONNELL | CONDOR TRAIL

Journal APRIL 2016

PLUS

MAGA ZINE OF THE CENTRAL COAST

CLAUDIA MAKEYEV The Mermaid Scientist

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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

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THE CONDOR TRAIL

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 Jan Owens, Kyle Owens, Jim Parsons, Barbara Alvis

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THE SHERWINS

MCCONNELL AND LEE

ADVERTISING Steve Owens CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Susan Stewart, Joseph Carotenuti, Dr. James Brescia, Sarah Hedger, Maggie Cox, Will Jones, Deborah Cash, Heather Young, Don Morris, Rebecca LeDuc, Charmaine Coimbra, Chuck Graham, Richard Bauman and Carlyn Christianson.

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

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EVA ULZ Celebrating the Museum’s 60th STAN AND MARY SHERWIN CLAUDIA MAKEYEV LIZ LEE AND MARK MCCONNELL

HOME & OUTDOOR 18 20 22 24

SEALIFE STEWARDS THE CONDOR TRAIL HOT ROD MUSEUM FOOD / AT THE MARKET

COMMUNITY

26 28 30 32 34 41 42

SLO COUNTY ART SCENE LOCAL BOOKS: The Box CUESTA COLLEGE HONORS NINE HISTORY: Joseph Galvez – part 2 OUR SCHOOLS – Dr. James Brescia PALM STREET Councilwoman, Christianson COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD

BUSINESS

36 EYE ON BUSINESS 37 DOWNTOWN SLO What’s Happening

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Welcoming Michael Roberts, DDS to the office!

From the publisher

T

his issue is packed with people who are making a difference on the Central Coast. We start out with our cover story on Claudia Makeyev.

Claudia (pictured) has accomplished more in her 37 years than most anyone I know more than twice her age. We move on to Liz Lee and Mark McConnell. They take half of their real estate commissions and donate them to a local charity.

It’s great PR for them and even better for the non-profit. Next we have a group of volunteers up the coast called the SeaLife Stewards. You will like what they are doing to protect our sea life. Finally we profile local jewelers, Stan and Mary Sherwin. Stan and Mary have been giving back to this community for many years.

We also write about the Condor Trail and California’s Hot Rod Museum.

Plenty of good reading again this month.

Welcoming new patients, as well!

Enjoy the magazine.

11545 LOS OSOS VALLEY ROAD SUITE A, SAN LUIS OBISPO, CA Steve Owens

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curator and director

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eva ann ulz

slo museum celebrates 60 years of preserving home-town history

By Susan Stewart

I

n the spirit of the phrase, “Physician, Heal Thyself!” our own San Luis Obispo County History Museum will celebrate its 60th birthday with—among other exhibits—a history of itself!

“As we celebrate the museum’s 60th, we’re taking the opportunity to revisit our own history,” explained the Center’s Curator and Director, Eva Ann Ulz, “looking back through our records to understand the extraordinary partnership between the SLO County Historical Society (now the History Center), the County, and the City that allowed this museum to be created in the Carnegie Library and to survive for a remarkable sixty years.”

Formed in 1953 to preserve The Dallidet Adobe—now one of the city’s oldest and foremost landmarks—the San Luis Obispo Historical Society was a separate entity from the Museum itself for a time. The Society had its own anniversary in 2013. In 2010, the Society was renamed The History Center in order to combine the functions of both the historical society and the museum building (which is itself a SLO History Center Curator and Director, Eva Ulz

Photo by Aimee Armour-Avant.

historical landmark: an Andrew Carnegie Library). It is the museum, the society, and the collaborative effort that brought them together which will be celebrated throughout the year. Selected meeting minutes from the 1950s (among other key elements) will be blown up and displayed so that visitors can see how the effort unfolded over time.

“We’re planning to continue collecting History Center history throughout the year, and are gearing up to record oral histories with key people who were involved in running the History Center later this year,” said Ulz. Hired to be the Center’s curator in 2013 (as part of a year-long grant from the Harold J. Miossi Charitable Trust), Ulz was charged with evaluating the current condition of its collections, and to work with the board, committees, and other staff to revitalize collections efforts.

Today, her title is Curator and Director, and though she continues to be involved in the collections themselves, she now also works on the educational content that is shared with the public, expanding the Center’s funding base, and supporting other history organizations around the county.

And, she says, “continuing the process begun by my predecessors of re-introducing the History Center to the public as a vibrant place where the community can gather.”

Born and raised in Newark, Delaware, Ulz comes by her love of history honestly. Delaware is home to several great museums and historic homes, many of which are funded by the famous DuPont family whose chemical company was founded in Delaware. So Ulz likes to joke, “Kids in Delaware either become chemists or museum professionals, and I was bad at math, so chemistry was out!”

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PEOPLE Since 1994, Ulz has racked up an impressive 22 years of managerial experience in the history “industry” beginning with the Rockwood Museum in Wilmington Delaware and traversing through several stints as Education & Communications Manager at New York City’s Merchant House Museum, educator at Delaware’s Historical Society, co-founder of NYC’s Nineteenth Century Society, and—after moving West—volunteer textile curator at the South County Historical Society in Arroyo Grande.

“I credit the people I worked with as my most powerful mentors,” she said. “In particular, the director of the museum in New York City who taught me so much, both in leading by example and in giving me the opportunity to try out new ideas and programs.”

The Dallidet Adobe

Home-schooled for much of her education, Ulz said she was allowed to focus on her passion for history and historic homes in particular, and she attended history camp every summer. She gave her first guided tour when she was just 9 years old, and by the time she was 12, she’d begun volunteering as a docent for the local history museum. At 16, she was hired as an educator and history camp counselor by a local museum.

“I was, and still am, fascinated by the way that historic houses and gardens could make the past come alive,” she says.

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Locally, Ulz has either initiated or been integrally involved with an equally impressive number of exhibitions. These include Three Stacks and a Rock: The Morro Bay Power Plant 1955-2014; Phoebe Apperson Hearst: America’s Grande Dame; Memento Mori: The Birth & Resurrection of Postmortem Photography; and the forthcoming What We Wore: 100 Years of San Luis Obispo County Fashion.

“I love history because it connects us to the men and women who came before us,” she says. “By learning about the world they lived in, we can better understand and empathize with the choices they made—and by extension, understand the implications of the choices we are making today.”

During the months of February and March, The History Center celebrated its 60th during Art After Dark, was honored by the County Board of Supervisors as well as the City Council, and held a private reception on the evening of the actual anniversary, February 26th.

In addition, a number of Cal Poly architecture students—under the direction of their professors, Howard Weisenthal and Humberto Norman— showcased their design models for a possible History Center expansion into the parking lot next door.

“We’re eager to hear from the community about what they’d like to see from an expanded History Center footprint,” said Ulz. “The Center, which also operates the Dallidet Adobe and Gardens and coordinates collaborations with other history groups throughout the county, is bursting at the seams of the Carnegie Library,” she continued. “A new building next door would allow us to retain some

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County Board of Supervisors Resolution honors The History Center. Pictured with the Supervisors: Board President, Julie Moore, Eva Ulz, and Board Secretary, Jack San Filippo.

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A portion of the History Center’s 60th Anniversary exhibit

functions in the historic library, while adding new space for galleries, archives, displays … and whatever else the community tells us they’d like to see us focus on!”

The History Museum is free to visit (though donations are appreciated), as is the Research Room. A new permanent exhibit of county history featuring regularly changing objects and a “fantastic film that takes you through 15,000 years of local history in less than fifteen minutes” makes a compelling reason to stop by soon. And of course the history of the History Center about its 60th anniversary will be up through mid-April.

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Visitors are asked to share their vision for the Center.

While there, Ulz encourages visitors to tell her what she can do to ensure they’ll come back again and again.

“What kinds of exhibitions are you interested in? What kinds of programming? Could we provide space for your history-related club to meet? Would you like to volunteer?” Ulz wants to know.

Help make history. Visit your History Center. Because as Eva Ann Ulz reminds us, when we understand what motivated and influenced those who came before us, we can better comprehend the choices we are making today, and thereby influence those who will come after us.

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stan and mary sherwin

their passion ‘rocks’ their world!

By Deborah Cash

M

ary Sherwin may be her husband Stan’s one true love, but she wasn’t his first. No, rocks were. Those good ol’ boyhood accoutrements found in every young lad’s pockets—plain ol’ rocks—held a particular and keen fascination for a young Stan Sherwin. Later, he and Mary, herself an eventual fan, would cultivate this passion for stones, minerals and gems into a livelihood, a purpose and ultimately, fulfillment of their dreams.

“My parents were rock hounds and hobbyists,” Stan explained of his early interest in the earth’s toughest, most rugged elements. Living in Indio, California, parents John and Kay Sherwin herded Stan and his three siblings out to the desert often. Recalling the family story that he was “practically born under a cactus,” he laughed that his first rock trip occurred when he was a wee six weeks old. Stan said his parents attended gem and mineral shows where they displayed their beautiful products, both in raw form and—with the use of their lapidary equipment— expertly finished. “I’ve worked on stones since I was 10 years old,” Stan said. “I always loved the lapidary environment. It brought out a passion in me because it was from the earth, and I was able to produce things that were beautiful. I also loved spending time in the desert.”

Stan met his future wife Mary at Cal Poly. Mary wasn’t far from home; she and her family had moved to Cayucos when she was in the 8th grade. “There were only 18 people in my class,” she said of adjusting to life in a small town. “It was kind of a shock!” She later graduated from Coast Union High School in Cambria. Her father Norbert was a guide at Hearst Castle where Mary fondly recalls being allowed

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Stan and Mary Sherwin

to swim in the famous pool as a perk of her dad’s job. Mary’s mom Jennie and three brothers rounded out the clan.

In 1971, Stan and Mary tied the knot and moved from Santa Margarita to Atascadero the following year. Having obtained her degree in Social Science, Mary went to work for the Bank of America. Stan, who earned a BS in Mathematics, was employed by the railroad during college and continued afterward. Throughout the ’70s, the husband-and-wife team participated in gem and mineral shows around the state most weekends—a lucrative situation thanks to the connections made through Stan’s family at the National Date Festival and other shows over the years. “We got to know the dealers, and buyers began to look for us at events,” Stan said.

Mary recounted that during their first summer together, they lived with Stan’s parents in Indio. “It was 120-degree heat, dust storms and crickets.

I was used to Cayucos,” she lamented. The couple found themselves faced with major life decisions. “The railroad wanted me to work longer hours,” Stan said, “and we were doing 28 shows a year.” Plus, the couple now had two small daughters. “Something had to give,” he said.

“We decided to open our own business,” said Stan, who had quit his position with the railroad. They moved back to Atascadero because Stan and Mary felt it was a good place to raise a family. And, because Mary had a secure position with the bank, they could pursue their dream of owning a jewelry store. They found an affordable site “out in the sticks” in north Atascadero in 1980. “I remember putting the ‘Open’ sign up,” Stan said. “Then my first customer walked in and I asked myself, ‘What do I do now?’” They named the business K-Jon’s Fine Jewelers after Stan’s parents—Kay and John— who had branded the name through their many years of involvement in shows. “Mary had grown to love the business, the stones,” Stan said. “It would be her salary that paid our bills. Our goal for the first year was to not dip into our savings.” It helped, Mary said, that she often wore jewelry from their store to her job; when bank customers admired the pieces, she’d refer them to family’s fledgling business. “We’ve had many loyal customers since our first years,” Mary said, sharing that when a decades-old box of customers’

Stan and Mary at a Gem & Mineral Show in 1975

files was recently discovered, it included names of people who still shop there today!

A major factor in their success is Stan’s commitment to education and training in his field. “I always wanted to learn more,” he said. “Early on, I took correspondence courses from the Gemology Institute of America which is considered the foremost school of gems and minerals.” By the time the business officially opened, Stan was a Graduate Gemologist.

K-Jon’s Fine Jewelers is a member of the American Gem Society and both Stan and Assistant Manager Preston Wallace are Certified Gemologist Appraisers through American Gem Society—one of the highest professional titles in the industry—and are the only two C.G.A.s within a hundred miles.

The Sherwins moved into their new store in 2004 and now employ 11 staff—many of whom have been on board for more than 15 years. Five are graduate gemologists. “We work as a team, including grandkids who wash windows and learn about stones,” Stan said proudly. Acknowledging the importance of happy employees, the Sherwins strive to create “the best working environment possible.”

An offshoot of their success is their ability to share their bounty with the community. “It’s a no-brainer,” Stan says. “We’ve lived here most of our lives; our daughters went to school here,” he said, adding, “After you survive a few years in business, you realize that the community has supported you to get there.” He paused, “I look around and marvel at what it took. I’m pretty lucky; I saw many long-time businesses disappear during the recession.”

Stan and Mary generously support community organizations including CAPS, Assistance League, Friends of the Atascadero Library Dancing With our Stars, SLO Food Bank, Atascadero High School, North County Christian School, Paso Robles High School and RISE. Stan coached soccer when his daughters, Jennifer and Stacey, were young.

Those little girls are now grown with families of their own. Jennifer, a teacher, and her husband Mark Hinson, live in SLO with children Tyler and Cody. Stacey, married to Matt Gaughan, is a graduate gemologist at K-Jon’s; their family includes Rebecca, Rachel, Jordan and niece Alex.

Despite a demanding schedule, Stan and Mary manage to squeeze in activities they enjoy. Both love to travel and enjoy tennis, camping,

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fishing, hunting and being outdoors. “We go to Baja a lot,” Stan said, adding they’ve recently fly fished in New Zealand.

Mary enjoys taking trips to seek out and purchase The first store in 1980 stones, particularly when she can visit the mines where some gemstones originate including a recent trip to Kenya and Tanzania.

“It’s a very educational experience,” she says, “to watch the guys with The location today picks, shovels and hammers excavate rough rocks. Most colored gemstones are mined this way.”

Looking ahead, Stan says while they’re stepping back a bit from the daily rigors of owning a business, he and Mary aren’t taking to their “rock-ers” just yet. “How can you retire from something you enjoy?” he asked. “We love our customers, our jewelry and gems.” That has a nice ring to it!

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Claudia Makeyev the Mermaid Scientist

By Will Jones

F

ollowing her graduation from UCSB in 2001, with a double major in biology and art, Claudia Makeyev decided she needed a break. Rather than a week in Cancun or another well-known vacation destination, she chose an adventure which signifies the kind of spirit that has guided her life up to this point: she traveled the Pacific Crest Trail (PCT), solo, on horseback, from the Mexican border to Oregon, over one thousand miles, in six months. Claudia has packed decades of life and variety into her peripatetic thirty-seven years.

Claudia was born in Berkeley where her father, Jean-Pierre, attended graduate school. “He studied Medieval Linguistics and translated ancient texts from the south of France.” Her family lived in Michigan, New York and France, where her father’s family was from, and returned to the states in 1989. Jean-Pierre also taught mathematics, both before and after a career in computer programming. Claudia attended fourth and fifth grade in France. She is bilingual and has dual citizenship.

Her parents met in Michigan, where her mother, Kathy, was studying French. “My father was checking out the math department, but was invited by my mother’s French professor to speak to her class.” Kathy worked as a flight attendant for Pan Am for many years and owned Farb’s bakery in San Luis Obispo for ten years before recently selling it. She is now working on a Ph.D. in mythology. “She loves Joseph Campbell, Carl Yung, and the whole hero’s journey theme.” Claudia’s brother, Alex, is a journalist in San Francisco, and her sister, Amber, is a yoga instructor in Los Angeles.

Not surprisingly, it was assumed that Claudia and her siblings would do well in school, go to college and attend graduate school. “But my parents’ approach was laissez-faire. We had to find our own way.”

Outdoor life was also an important family value, so Claudia surfed and rode horses during her youth in California. Three of her horses, but no more than two at a time, accompanied her on the PCT. “I’d been reading John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, and I had all these ideals

so I did it.” We enthusiastically swapped stories about stretches off the John Muir Trail both of us have traveled.

Claudia matriculated to UCSB after her 1996 graduation from San Luis Obispo High School. “I worked at the marine lab, I was vice president of the Surfrider Foundation, and one semester I sailed on two-masted brigantine out of Woods Hole, Massachusetts. We sailed from the Caribbean to Nova Scotia and back to Woods Hole doing River and mountain view along the Pacific Crest Trail

Claudia riding the Pacific Crest Trail A P R I L

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oceanographic research, learning how to navigate by the stars and handle sails.” With a characteristic smile and a chuckle, Claudia said, “I did research on pelagic copepods.”

and they helped me with math and stats.”

She credited the great English teachers at SLOHS with helping her to develop her writing skills.

When she returned to San Luis Obispo after her PCT trip, Claudia worked for the Land Conservancy and created a management plan for the Nipomo-Guadalupe Dunes. “It was fantastic. I would go out every day and locate rare and endangered plants. It was a huge learning experience.” After a year with the Conservancy, she spent a winter as a ski bum in Colorado while applying to graduate schools. “While with the Land Conservancy I got a fellowship with the Political and Economic Development Center in Bozeman, Montana. I got excited about environmental economics and decided that’s what I wanted to study in graduate school.” She attended the University of Rhode Island to earn a masters and do research. “I received a very nice offer from URI. Basically, I was paid to go to graduate school.”

Claudia was hired as a research fisheries biologist with NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and NMFS, the National Marine Fisheries Service, in Pacific Grove after completing graduate school. “It was cool to finally have a title that I felt was me: fisheries biologist.” She collected and analyzed data on the California trawl fishing industry with a focus on rock fish conservation. “Every pound and every species of fish caught was analyzed and the data was used to manage the rock fish population.”

During her graduate work, Claudia gradually shifted from land based projects to fisheries. She worked as a shipboard scientist on a lobster boat for a summer, mea-

Claudia with a Coral Grouper

suring and tagging breeding size females to determine growth in populations. “The projects I was involved with required a lot of math and statistics, not my strength.

I helped my colleagues from around the world with their writing, my strength,

During that time Claudia also volunteered at the Monterey Bay Aquarium in the sea otter conservation program. Her time with NOAA/NMFS was followed by a year as the research coordinator at CSU Monterey Bay. “I taught a research methodologies class and coordinated all of the undergraduate research projects. It was good to get away from crunching numbers and get more involved in active projects.”

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The students at Tending Island School

The Tending Island School

Some of the school children inside the classroom

This meal is served daily.

While working for the Nature Conservancy on Santa Cruz Island for a year, Claudia planned a trip to Southeast Asia, particularly to explore an area of the Philippines called the coral triangle, a “mecca for marine biologists. Currents from all different oceans come together to create a rich environment for all kinds of species, more than anywhere on the planet. I went out, I loved it and I stayed.”

Claudia worked with a native tribe, the Tagbanua, to preserve marine protected areas and sustain their fisheries. “They’re a fascinating people

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with their own ancient language who have an amazing knowledge of the ocean. They fish to eat, not to create an economy.” Illiterate, unrepresented, their way of life is threatened by the encroachment of society at large.

Time spent around Tagbanua children, teaching them about the coral area, led to Claudia securing funding from ecology minded venture capitalists she met in Manila to open the Tending Island School in 2011. “We outfitted a bamboo hut on an island and planned for twenty-two kids.

Because some of them were paddling for hours to get there we arranged

Claudia reading one of her books at the Library

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officially been supported by the Philippines Department of Education since 2012.

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To supplement the curriculum and utilize her art skills, Claudia created the content for an ABC book of coral creatures and launched her Mermaid Scientist idea. “I wanted to help the girls and with mermaids it made science more fun and approachable. Mermaids are in every culture. I created a scientifically accurate ocean creature for each letter in the alphabet with scientific information included.

Claudia worked at the school for two-and-ahalf years, during which time her father died suddenly in a diving accident in Monterey Bay. She returned to California after “using up my nest egg. I was ready to come home to the first world.” Since her return in 2013 she has worked on a variety of projects, including helping at her mother’s bakery, doing field biology work, preparing her ABC book for publication, developing her mermaid scientist brand through marine themed artwork and other products. She has also published a Mermaid Science coloring book which is available on Amazon, and has been contracted by NOAA to create a children’s book on rockfish that will combine her artistic talents and marine science knowledge.

One of Claudia’s designs for her Mermaid Scientist books

Claudia’s artwork has been shown at a variety of locations around San Luis Obispo and she is now part of The Bunker, an art cooperative located on Orcutt Road. She will participate in the Spring Art Show on April 16. “It’s my dream to be a self-sustaining children’s book author and artist, to make it fun for kids to learn about marine life.”

Given her many talents, her wide ranging experience and success to this point, it’s likely that Claudia Makeyev, Mermaid Scientist, will realize her dream. To follow Claudia, her art and her books, go to www. mermaidscientist.com.

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for them to eat and sleep at the site. At our orientation, seventy-five kids showed up, five to ten years old. We enlarged the dormitory and hired two more teachers.” The school teaches basic literacy and coral reef sustainability and includes a coral reef learning lab. Claudia still marvels at her good fortune: “The biggest donation I ever received followed dinner and a round of tequila shots!” The school has

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PEOPLE

heart to heart

liz lee and mark mcConnell giving 50% of commissions to charity

By Heather Young

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iz Lee and Mark McConnell of Paso Robles have both been real estate agents since 1998, and in August 2013, they started their own company—Heart to Heart Real Estate. It’s just not any real estate company—Lee and McConnell donate half of their commissions to charity.

“It’s people helping people helping people,” McConnell said. “They get to feel good, but we write the check.”

“I think people inherently want to give back,” Liz added. “It’s a winwin. We wanted to creative massive change within the community.

We’re just the vehicle.”

Not only do they donate half of the commission, but the client gets to choose where the money goes.

“Our clients always choose,” McConnell said. “We had a client who chose a no-kill animal shelter in Texas because that’s where she lived.”

Lee said that the amount they give from a single sale isn’t small, but could be up to $25,000, which is the biggest single donation they’ve given to date. However, they donated a total of $30,000 in December 2015 to nonprofits around the county.

“It’s a consuming business—it takes all of your time,” Lee said.

“The harder we work, the more we give,” McConnell added.

Lee became a real estate agent in her family’s commercial real estate business in Chicago while she earned her law degree from Loyola Law School in Chicago in 2000. She got her bachelor’s degree from Whittier College in Southern California.

“When I moved out here to Atascadero, my family told me ‘you’re good at it, so keep doing it,’” Lee said. She moved to the area with family 11 years ago.

McConnell got into real estate after he bought his first home in Paso Robles.

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PEOPLE “It was a very painful process with lots of problems,” McConnell said. “I’m a very hands-on person so I took over the reins.”

At the time he was waiting tables in Paso Robles, so with a little encouragement from the agent handling the sale of the home he bought, he got his real estate license.

While working at ReMax in Paso Robles, Lee and McConnell met and have been together as a couple for the last seven years and are now engaged. They now live in Paso Robles with McConnell’s 15-year-old daughter.

Their joint venture began several years before they actually took the leap and started Heart to Heart.

“One day Mark was reading ‘The Peace Pilgrim’ and turned around said, ‘we’re going to give away 50 percent of our income,’ and then turned around,” Lee said.

“I want to do something meaningful for the rest of my life,” McConnell added, saying the story of Mildred Lisette Norman, the Peace Pilgrim and a non-denominational spiritual teacher spoke to McConnell. “Late in her life, she gave up all her possessions and spent all of her life spreading a message of peace. That struck a cord in me to have such a conviction in something.”

Lee added that for her, she felt particularly moved to give so much away after visiting her father in Philippines and seeing how the people there live.

“She’s the one who said we were going to start,” McConnell said.

So they did. And they have no plans of stopping any time soon.

“I really believe this is something that will be duplicated and emulated,” McConnell said, adding that while most businesses have a giving component to the business, he’d like to see this model, where giving is a central part of the business, take off. “Just doing good, being respectful, being kind—that’s how the world is meant to be done.”

“We’d like to see more people doing this,” Lee said. “In America, there really shouldn’t be suffering. Why do we have so many issues? If we don’t work together, we aren’t fixing anything. People want to help other people.”

When not selling real estate, Liz likes to run.

Pictured here at the Berlin Marathon.

Some of the nonprofits that Heart to Heart has benefitted include Paso Robles Youth Arts Foundation, The Wellness Kitchen,

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Biking with friends is another favorite activity.

Boys and Girls Club, Camp Natoma, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Food Bank Coalition of San Luis Obispo County, Woods Humane Society, Second Chance at Love, Transitional Food and Shelter, Cancer Support Community, Meade Canine Humane Society, the Templeton High School Marching Band Boosters and Jack’s Helping Hand.

Heart to Heart Real Estate is located at 1226 Park St. in downtown Paso Robles.

Lee and McConnell can be reached at 805-674-0297 or 805-464-1007 or go to www.hearttoheartrealestate.com.

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seaLife stewards Volunteers initiate new program for morro bay

By Charmaine Coimbra

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SeaLife Steward, Bette Bardeen

hen I want to show Central Coast cuteness to my out of area guests, I take them to watch the California sea otters in Morro Bay. From land, we watch their antics with binoculars, and hope our long-lens cameras capture a frame-able photo.

But a growing number of kayakers in the bay can’t resist paddling too close to these photogenic mammals. Besides watching an active raft of otters, some kayakers try for a close-up cell phone photo to instantly post on a social media page. That’s a problem, says Cayucos resident, Bette Bardeen. Bardeen, a Morro Bay State Park interpreter, envisioned and is now implementing SeaLife Stewards, a new program to protect Morro Bay estuary wildlife from kayaking disturbances.

Under the auspices of Morro Bay State Park, the new SeaLife Stewards program begins training kayaking interpreters to help keep other kayakers in Morro Bay a safe distance from federally protected marine mammals that includes sea lions and seals, and from disrupting the estuary’s birds.

Your Happy Place.

The organizing team for SeaLife Stewards includes Kathy Cherrie, a State Park docent; and Rouvaishyana, Cara O’Brien and Jenny Foca, who are State Park Interpreters.

California sea otters once ranged in the tens of thousands until fur traders hunted them to near-extinction in the 19th century. Otter fur was considered a “royal fur” because of its soft sumptuousness. That was the otters’ near-demise. Today, California sea otters along the Central Coast (Pigeon Point to Point Conception) number in and out of 3,000, a fraction of their historical population. This is not considered a sustainable population.

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Bay each year, protecting our marine life from human disturbance becomes more of an issue,” Bardeen explained. “Otters are very sensitive to disturbance. While their fur is thick, they don’t have the capacity to retain fat, so they must eat constantly, and then rest. When kayakers approach them, this stresses the otters. So what the SeaLife Stewards will do is provide information to approaching kayakers about our estuary’s marine life.”

The stewards will not serve as a policing agency, but as informal educators.

Bardeen added, “If tourism and human contact continues to stress the otters that live in the estuary, the otters will leave and find another locale along the coast to live.”

Bette Bardeen in front of the Coastal Discovery Center at San Simeon.

So, Morro Bay’s sea otter population is pretty special. And while the 2015 census shows a slight increase in their numbers, California sea otters are hardly out of trouble. “Before the early 2000s, we didn’t see very many shark-bitten otters south of Monterey,” said Mike Harris, a biologist with the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. Harris noted in a Monterey Bay Aquarium report that, “Great white shark bite cases now explain about 70 percent of the total (otter) strandings in this area (between Cayucos and Pismo Beach).”

SeaLife Stewards is based on a Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary program, Team Ocean. “With more tourists visiting Morro

Bardeen is an active volunteer along the Central Coast. She also serves as a Friends of the Elephant Seal docent, and is an Underwater Park ambassador for the California Marine Sanctuary Foundation.

Qualified applicants for the SeaLife Stewards—meaning experienced kayakers who swim and can tolerate three hours in the water—will undergo a three-day training program the last three Saturdays this April. Additional information about becoming a volunteer is available by email at SeaLifeStewards@gmail.com, or by calling (805) 772-6105.

For me, watching otters from the rocks or shoreline, I’ll salute SeaLife Stewards kayaking the bay. Their efforts may well be the key to keep the rafts of Central Coast cuteness healthy and happy in the Morro Bay estuary.

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The condor trail Soaring under the radar

By Chuck Graham

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ack in the mid 1990s, while backpacking along the Sisquoc River, I had no idea I was actually on the Condor Trail (CT). My wife Lori dropped myself and a friend, Leo Downey, off in Cuyama and we backpacked home finishing in Montecito. I can remember pile-driving through nearly impenetrable chaparral along the Sisquoc River, ticks showering down like rain in this dense section of the 410-mile thru-hike in the heart of the Los Padres National Forest (LPNF).

To say the endangered California condor and the Condor Trail parallel each other would be an understatement to say the least. The Condor Trail traverses and winds its way for over 400 hard miles from Lake Piru to Big Sur. It also happens to be one of the last strongholds for North America’s largest flying landbird.

The Condor Trail begins at the back end of Lake Piru in Ventura County, making its way from sea level to 7,000 feet through the Sespe Wilderness, a portion of the Dick Smith Wilderness, follows the gradual flow of the Sisquoc River in the San Raphael Wilderness, traverses its way up and over the Sierra Madre Mountains, crosses over Highway 166, hugs the coastal route along Highway 1 from Morro Bay, Cayucos, Cambria and San Simeon before finishing at the north end of Big Sur at Botchers Gap within the northern Monterey Ranger District.

The Condor Trail is a work in progress, a labor of tough love and according to Conant that might always be the case.

“These are some of the most difficult portions of the Condor Trail,” said Bryan Conant of the Sisquoc River section. “There’s a lot of work to be done. Our mission is to keep it off of roads and in the wilderness as much as possible.”

Southern Pacific Rattlesnake

What’s in a Name

The trail and this Pleistocene remnant both need help to survive. The California condor still relies on human intervention for its survival.

The fight against lead poisoning, consumption of trash, loss of critical habitat and the bird’s perpetual curiosity keep it on the brink of extinction while they attempt to reclaim historic territory.

“Following in the footsteps of other long distance trails I don’t ever see it being completed, so to speak,” said Conant, who works for the non-profit Los Padres Forest Association. “The Pacific Crest Trail continues to change and improve. I see annual tweaks along the CT as well.

In that sense the Condor Trail is like a child that needs to be nurtured one step at a time as it navigates through life. Funds need to be raised for trail crews to construct new routes and maintain established trails.

There are large sections of trail that need to be reclaimed due to overgrown chaparral or a section of trail that was washed out in a storm.

The Condor Trail is actually a popular and vital flyway for populations of condors congregating between Hopper Mountain National Wildlife Refuge northeast of Fillmore and in the Ventana Wilderness up in Big Sur. It’s also bringing hikers and backpackers together as word gets out that this thru-hike connects those to the forest.

Vision Quest The Condor Trail was originally hatched by a Los Padres National Forest Service historian and trail-worker, Alan Coles. He had the vision of connecting the back end of Lake Piru to the Manzana Schoolhouse.

According to Conant, Coles enlisted close friends like Chris Danch.

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tually he took the bull by the horns expanding on Cole’s original plan.

“Chris felt the trail should extend across the entire length of forest up to Monterey,” said Conant. “He took the reigns furthering the route.”

Danch ran the trail project for a decade and according to Conant made huge strides in the development of the CT. He introduced the concept to the public while garnering support from the Forest Service, however as time rolled on and for unspecified reasons Danch ran out of steam in the early 2000s, and with it the CT fell dormant hibernating away in the dense chaparral.

While Danch gathered support for the CT, Conant—who was in the throes of mapping the LPNF—attended a lecture in the late 1990s delivered by Danch at the Santa Barbara Public Library. Conant fell in love with the project.

“Afterwards I had some time and started poking around to see where the CT was,” continued the Santa Barbara area cartographer. “I found out that nothing was going on with it and so I decided to resuscitate it and bring it back to life.”

From that point Conant dug in his heels, created a non-profit 501c3 called the Condor Trail Association, built a website and created a following of like-minded hikers and backpackers spanning the length of the LPNF. Since then Danch has rejoined the effort moving forward to complete the trail.

Challenges Ahead Conant is in this for the long term. As a cartographer who has mapped vast swaths of the LPNF, and with his duties at the Los Padres Forest Association (LPFA), there’s no race to the finish line as the Condor Trail evolves.

He doesn’t spend as much time as he used to on the CT, but with his work with the LPFA there’s not a lack of trail projects to pursue. In 2015 Conant spent about 20 days on the trail.

“Most of the route is in place at least on paper,” explained Conant, who has explored most of the trail in the southern Los Padres. “There are still sections that are so overgrown that we are detouring hikers around them. The plan is to get those sections of trail followable again so we can send hikers along those routes.”

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incredible wildlife, emerald green pools and perpetual solitude the forest is known for.

“The biggest challenge for the trail was getting the first person to complete the trail,” he said of Nielsen’s successful CT finish. “I think from here on out more people will hike it knowing that it was successfully completed.”

For more information on the Condor Trail Association and its current status go to www.condortrail.com

There are some private property issues on the route once a hiker/backpacker leaves the Willow Spring Trail from the south and crosses over Highway 166 heading north. After walking approximately 3 miles west on the highway the trail continues at the Adobe Trailhead.

“We have a vision to alter this intersection but at the moment that is the current route,” he said. “Currently we are sending hikers out of the way around the private property.

Ultimately we’d like to work a plan with the private property owners.”

One of the CT’s biggest challenges was met head on in 2015. Late last spring the first thru-hiker negotiated the entire route in 37 days. San Diegan Brittany Nielsen took the train up to Ventura, and Conant dropped her off at the trailhead at Lake Piru. She finished her thru-hike in late June 2015.

Through many trials and tribulations Nielsen stuck it out absorbing all the peaks and valleys and the many blows the forest could throw at her along the way. She endured lengthy bushwhacking sections and no water. She encountered few people along the way, 20 individuals during the entire route, and temps fluctuated from freezing to triple digits.

On the flip side of things she hiked beneath towering redwood forests, experienced

805 Aerovista #103, San Luis Obispo

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Wally Parks NHRA Museum

a place full of hot rod history

By Richard Bauman “Hot Rods” and hot rodding are California’s gift to the world. The art of creating fast and/or exotic “new” cars from junkyard findings has its roots in West Coast 1930s and ’40s, and is a worldwide phenomenon today.

There’s no place better to learn about hot rod history, and to see some extraordinary machines than at the Wally Parks NHRA Museum in Pomona, California. The museum is 28,000 square feet of high-speed heaven.

There are vintage cars that sort of resemble what they looked like the day they rolled off the production line, and there are others that you have to stretch your imagination to see their genesis. There are examples of racecars from the early days of drag racing, streamliners from speed runs on California’s dry lakes and the Bonneville Salt

Flats, drag racing motorcycles and hi-tech dragsters that can easily exceed 200 mph in a quarter-mile race.

There’s also a lot of hot rods and drag racing memorabilia: photographs, paintings, trophies, helmets, and advertising rounding out about 70 years of American motorsports.

WHAT IS A HOT ROD? “Hot Rod” is a mystery term. No one seems to know exactly when it came into being, or exactly what it means. In the 1930s, Model-T and Model-A Ford roadsters were enthusiasts’ favorite cars to modify.

Some automotive historians think hot rod is a shortening of the phrase “hot roadster.” Others think it describes components used to “hop-up” car engines.

Regardless of origin, it has endured and certainly was well entrenched in the jargon of enthusiasts in 1948, when the first issue of Hot Rod magazine hit the newsstands. Wally Parks, for whom the NHRA Museum is named, was the magazine’s first editor.

Hot Rod was a nirvana for car buffs, since it touched on all aspects of hot rodding: hot rods, custom vehicles and drag racing. It was where they learned about the latest speed boosting equipment for their cars, and how to make engine and body modifications. It also was the perfect place for sellers of performance parts and speed shop operators to advertise their wares to car buffs.

THROUGH THE MUSEUM’S DOORS When you enter the museum you can turn either right or left. Going left leads you into a gallery of early vintage modified cars including 1940 Ford coupes with vibrant paint jobs that sparkle with depth.

There are examples of 1930s roadsters and even Parks’ 1929 Model A street roadster. Turn right, on the other hand, and you become immersed in historic dragsters.

It doesn’t really matter which direction you head, because you’re on a path that takes you to all parts of the museum.

The museum is home to many exceptional racers. The “Glass Slipper” is one of them. Built in 1954, it’s an eye-catching beauty and was the first dragster with a streamlined and enclosed body. The car was campaigned nationwide at drag strips and even on the Bonneville Salt Flats.

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“All show and no go,” is a derisive term used to describe a good looking but not especially fast car. This doesn’t apply to the Glass Slipper.

At the Bonneville Salt Flats it ran 181 mph in the measured mile, and on drag strips it wasn’t uncommon for it to hit 160 mph in the quarter mile. It was named America’s Most Beautiful Competition Car in the 1957 Grand National.

In another gallery the Geisler-Vail-Banks 1953 Studebaker is a hot car from its fire engine red exterior to the various engines that have propelled it to no less than 50 land speed records—more than any other car in Bonneville Salt Flats’ history. In 1978, with a 955 h.p. twin-turbocharged engine, it became the world’s fastest gasolinepowered stock-bodied passenger car, reaching 217 mph at Bonneville.

While many other cars have pretty much lost their factory identity due to numerous body modifications, this car retains its distinctive Studebaker styling.

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Noise, questionable vehicle safety and the propensity for dangerous and illegal street racing. Wally Parks, and others, realized that if hot rods and hot rodding were going to survive, changes had to be made.

In 1951, while still editor of Hot Rod, Parks founded the National Hot Rod Association and became its first president.

A primary goal of the NHRA was to discourage illegal street racing by having safe, off-street places to race. Hot Rod became the media for promoting hot rodding safety. Parks presented the organization’s plans and goals to local and state law enforcement officials and got their support. The NHRA introduced safety standards, racing rules such as the standing start and quarter-mile track, and even classification for cars.

At the other end of the museum are examples of modern era dragsters and funny cars. The dragsters, positioned high on the gallery walls, provide visitors with wheels to wing view—top, side and underneath.

In April 1953, the NHRA held its first major sanctioned event in a parking lot at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds in Pomona. Today, the NHRA racing season starts in February in Pomona with the Winternationals, and the year’s final event, the NHRA Finals, takes place in November, also in Pomona.

In 1971, Don Garlits revolutionized high performance dragsters design by putting the engine behind the driver. Until then engines had been in front of the driver. Rear-engine placement not only provides better power transfer to the wheels, it’s also safer for the driver.

A reporter once asked Parks about the founding of the NHRA and its early expectations. “We were looking to form a hobby club that would accommodate people who like to do funny things with their cars,” Parks said. “None of us ever dreamed that it would grow as it has.”

THE BEGINNING OF THE NHRA Until the early 1950s, most police departments and much of the public had a dim view of hot rods and hot rodders for numerous reasons:

And grown it has to about 85,000 members worldwide. It licenses more that 35,000 competition drivers and sanctions over 140 events each year. It is the largest motorsport sanctioning body in the world.

That’s a long way from the hobby club for car enthusiasts.

Whether you’re an avid enthusiast or have only a casual interest in cars the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is well worth visiting. Through its numerous and various car displays and racing memorabilia, the museum gives visitors a well framed picture of the history and evolution of hot rodding.

The Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum is located at Gate 1, of Fairplex (L.A. County Fair Grounds) at 1101 W. McKinley Ave, Building 3A, Pomona CA 91768. It’s open Wednesday through Sunday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The museum has excellent handicap access.

For information about special events and/or current admission prices, call 909-622-2133 A P R I L

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at the market

eggs benedict with spring veggies, parsnip potato rosti and hollandaise

By Sarah Hedger

A

French toast with fresh strawberries, fresh herb omelet with chevre, and supplemented with baked treats in the form of berry muffins, fresh fruit coffeecake. This is what makes brunch great!

It’s also probably not hard to tell I am a fan of brunch at all hours of the day, when possible.

Along the Spring lines, I always think of brunch for some reason.

Probably from memories of my mom’s amazing Easter brunch, which continues to inspire for some time, even after Easter. Few things evoke more of a special treat, weekend meal, than brunch.

It seems to always be some sort of special treat kind of meal.

This month’s recipe, Eggs Benedict with Spring Veggies, Parsnip Potato Rosti, and (a somewhat healthy amazing) Hollandaise, combines it all, in the best of ways. While it may look like there is a lot going on, the hollandaise can be made ahead, as well as any of the prepped Spring veg to go along with it, thus leaving the eggs to poach, while the rosti are cooking. Easy! And, on top of it all, it is even quite healthy. The hollandaise is brilliant on its own and can even be enjoyed later as a dip, with any fresh veg. It tastes amazing and fresh and is shockingly healthy, especially compared with normal hollandaise, which is comprised (nearly entirely) of butter.

pril is a great time on the Central Coast with all things Spring in full swing. Everything from green (spring) onions, asparagus, spring greens such as spinach and dandelion, to chives and fresh herbs, and new season artichokes, to strawberries, the sky really is the limit! The fresh herbs are really good in Spring as it usually isn’t hot enough to make them bolt yet, leaving their leaves full of flavor. Same with spinach and some of the more leafy greens, full of freshness, while still being tender. And the strawberries, follow your nose to the best ones as that is the best indicator of flavor.

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eggs benedict with spring veggies, parsnip potato rosti, and (a somewhat healthy amazing) Hollandaise Serves 4 For the vegan Hollandaise: 1 cup raw cashews ¼ cup hot water ½ tsp turmeric 1 lemon, juiced ½ cup olive oil ½ tsp sea salt Place cashews in a medium bowl and cover with boiling water for 15 minutes. Drain and place in the bowl of a food processor with hot water, turmeric, lemon juice, olive oil and salt. Puree until smooth (keep going a couple minutes longer than you want to).

If the mixture is too thick, add more hot water, by the tablespoon, until hollandaise consistency. Taste for seasoning, adding more salt if needed.

Not a bad thing, but not a great thing to eat by the cupful. This hollandaise has healthy fats and proteins, using cashews, olive oil, lemon juice, and turmeric. It is smooth and pulls the dish together perfectly, as any good sauce should. The rosti brings highlight to one of my favorite rediscovered vegetables, the mighty parsnip.

Such an underrated root! It is sweet without being too earthy, and contributes nicely in conjunction with potatoes. The turmeric gives the hollandaise lovely, warming undertones, when partnered with the lemon juice, just the right balance. Much research has been taking place lately to prove the health benefits of turmeric, leaving many reaching for it to supplement their health. I left the Spring veggie option in this dish up to you as it can be anything that looks good on the day, and takes little prep. The fresher the produce, the less prep it takes to make it taste delicious! And, lastly, poaching eggs is more simple than I thought for many years, as it completely depends on the freshness of the egg. If it is an older egg, the white will come apart once added to the slowly boiling water. No vinegar is needed in the water if the egg is fresh.

It is the one thing that makes beautiful poached eggs—fresh, free range, happy eggs. No short cutting quality there! That said, go give this new hollandaise a try and enjoy getting your brunch on ... any time of the day!

For the Rosti: 2 large parsnips 1 medium potato (peeling is optional) 2 T flour (tapioca starch would work as a gluten free option) 1 egg, lightly beaten ½ tsp sea salt 4 T ghee Grate parsnips and potato into bowl. Press through a colander, pushing as much water as possible out. Add flour, egg, and salt, mixing well. Heat ghee in a large skillet over high heat. Place a small handful of parsnip mixture into hot pan, turning heat down to medium, pressing with a spatula to even out the rosti, and cooking 2-3 minutes per side. Remove from pan and repeat.

For the rest of the Benedict: Your favorite spring veggies such as: a handful of spinach some roasted asparagus steamed broccolini 4 eggs, poached finely chopped chives Place cooked rosti on each plate, topping with veggies and poached eggs. Neatly spoon a large tablespoon of hollandaise on top, finishing with some of the chives Enjoy!

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COMMUNITY

Paso Art Scene

robert “Rosey” Rosenthal:

a multiple (literally) artist/printmaker on the central coast

By Robert “Rosey” Rosenthal

T

housands of people around the United States own my original art and they don’t even know who I am.

How could that be? The answer is for many years I created and sold original etchings using many different names in many different styles through many different agents. Perhaps you own an original print by nationally advertised Philip S. Thal or John Whelan Jr. or D. Nero, Rosey, Erin David, Rossi, Lena Kaplan, Rico Bastante, or that well known European printmaker Andors Van Groot. Well, you are also the proud owner of an original Rosey Rosenthal print!

Writers are known for changing names as they venture into new genres. I thought why not artists? J. K. Rowling of Harry Potter fame is Robert Galbraith when writing detective mysteries. The name change does not alter the artists’ commitment to make the best art they can.

I thank all my collectors for allowing me to make a living doing the artwork I love. You helped me leave Los Angeles, marry my artist wife Barbara, live with my family in Spain and here on the beautiful Central Coast.

All of my fine art and printmaking is the result of living here in “Follow your bliss” California. If, when I was 29 years old and a successful New

York City art director, anyone had told me that some day I would be living in a small town called Los Osos, in the middle of California’s Central Coast, hundreds of miles from a big city, surrounded by farms, ranches and vineyards, I would have called them crazy. Hey! New York City is the center of the universe and I’m right there. Shows you what I know.

The journey from New York City to Los Osos, from advertising art director to full-time printmaker was convoluted and had its ups and downs, but a great adventure. It started when my wife got a great job in Southern California and I followed three months later at the end of the school year with our son. I worked in an ad agency in L.A., practiced drawing and comic book art at home in my free time and dreamed of living off of my own artwork. Finally I decided to stop dreaming. I quit the job, and started selling pen and ink drawings at weekend outdoor art shows.

I took a refresher class in etching and with an artist friend who made stained glass windows opened a shop in Hermosa Beach. I continued to participate in weekend art shows but now I was selling etchings.

Fortunately, by showing regularly and going on interviews I met and acquired art agents. The agents informed me that they and gallery

Harbor Reflections by D. Nero A P R I L

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Narrow Gauge Railroad by Philip S. Thal

Spirit of the Stormy Sea by D. Nero

owners wanted a consistent style that identified the artist. A “Look” made it easier for them all to sell the artwork and promote the artist.

At that time I was still exploring art styles so different agents got different styles and different names. I could now explore, innovate, experiment and still sell. When I found a fun new art style I also found a new artist’s name and often a new agent. Life was grand! The more I sold through agents the fewer weekend art shows I had to do. I was living the life I had envisioned, earning my living through my art.

Original prints were selling very well during this time in my career.

There were few giclees, no internet sales and galleries and art auctioneers were doing well. The demand for innovative prints encouraged experimentation and taking chances. Just what artists do best. I used unusual materials to make etchings, invented new printing techniques and had a great time working long hours into the night listening to “The Rockford Files” re-runs. Take it from me there is nothing as inspiring as selling your art.

The art business is hyper sensitive to changes in the economy, and long before the housing crash the market for original prints started to decline. Agents began to go out of business and galleries wanted art on consignment rather than purchasing outright and they packed their walls with “original” giclees (reproductions.) Fortunately, at this time, I was accepted into the Northern and Southern California Renaissance Pleasure Faires. For the next 23 years I exhibited my mythic-fantasy etchings at those two faires. All my other artists and their names faded away. Some of the images with changes I incorporated into my mythic-fantasy portfolio.

Some things don’t change. About ten years ago, in addition to my etchings, I started creating linocut prints of women, some nude but most with decorative clothing. They didn’t look anything like my mythic-fantasy art style. Many of my clients got confused and some even angry that I had added a new “look.”

Today, I share a studio with printmakers Helen K. Davie and Bob Simola at Studios on the Park in Paso Robles. The ambiance is one of

Crowning Achievement by Robert “Rosey” Rosenthal

support, innovation and craftsmanship. We are able to educate, demonstrate and interact with our clients, and I sign all my prints Robert “Rosey” Rosenthal.

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local books

what’s in the box?

A new vietnam war memoir

By Susan Stewart

I

t’s been 48 years this month since San Luis High School graduate, Edward August Schultz, class of 1965, was drafted into the 2nd platoon, 12th infantry, 25th Infantry Division, and was killed in action. His death, a mere two months Lynne Ludwick after he was sent to Viet Nam, left a deep dark void in the hearts of his family who loved him, in the community who remembered him, and especially in the heart of his niece, Lynne Lorine Ludwick, who was just 3 years his junior. For Lynne, Eddy was more like a big brother than an uncle; his death an inexplicable loss. She had an abiding sadness for the boy with so much promise, for the man he had become, and for the life that was stolen far too soon.

Then, in 2010, a package arrived on Lynne’s doorstep—a package that would inspire her to write The Box, a memoir, published just last month, near the anniversary of Eddy’s death on March 4th of 1968. Disarming in its innocence, endearing in its simplicity, The Box chronicles the years Lynne spent growing up with Eddy, in the dual embrace of a large loving family and the small, rural town of San Luis Obispo in the 1950s and ’60s. Rife with vivid childhood memories, the book paints a life—and a character—so sweet, so ideal, it’s nearly impossible to believe, and yet we do; the narrative is too honest to distrust. Which makes the interruption of Eddy’s life by war that much more disturbing.

Enhanced by the story of Eddy’s Viet Cong counterpart, The Box also offers a glimpse of another boy’s life, a childhood marked by constant war, unspeakable violence, and a soldier’s heart that only wanted his country back, made whole, after so many years of strife.

But this article is not that story. Rather it’s the tale of a local girl who grew up to be a talented teacher, devoted mother, and friend to many.

A girl who had always loved to write but put her writing dreams aside to make a living and raise her children. Her children are grown now with children of their own, and Lynne is retired from 30 years of teaching. When the box arrived containing a gift from the other side of the world, a gift from a former Viet Cong soldier whose life path had crossed with Eddy’s, she knew it was time to write again. For the next five years, as time allowed, Lynne wrote. “It was a chance to bring Eddy alive again,” she says.

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“Given the magnitude of its meaning, I reflected on its tiny size,” she writes about receiving the gift. “I lifted it, noting a dragon and oriental characters embossed on the lid, and a neatly tied red ribbon wrapped around it like a Christmas gift. I held it to my heart and contemplated its journey from across the world, from hands in one country to hands in another, and I knew that inside the darkness of this box was a story to be told: a story of hatred, death and grief but also of love, life and healing. A story that whispered its message across time.”

A chance Internet connection brought the men of Eddy’s platoon into Lynne’s life for an emotional meeting—a meeting that revealed everything about Eddy’s death. Lynne’s family was told by the government, and had always believed, that Eddy had been missing in action. Not so. His fellow soldiers’ contributions to the truth about Eddy’s final days and what exactly happened on the day he died were indispens-

COMMUNITY could take away the suffering of those who survived that war, Lynne wrote The Box, hoping that, in some slight way, it might ease the pain of those who suffered. She wrote it because the gift in The Box and the message it carried was too big not to share; its transformative powers too great to keep to herself.

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this talented writer who finally has the time to write, and the patience to publish.

“The Box was a gift that was sent to me, but was meant for everyone,” she says.

“Self-publication is an easy but tedious process,” she admits. And for her fellow aspiring authors, she adds, “But worth it!” Part of the proceeds from book sales will go to a scholarship fund for college-bound students who have lost a parent in any war, in Eddy’s name.

Details about contributing to the scholarship fund are on the website.

Lynne’s next project will be to edit and publish something she wrote twenty years ago, a children’s book (enjoyed just as much by adults) based on the bedtime stories of her late father. Artie of Tensleep has been a gleam in her eye for decades, and now it’s being illustrated and has a publication date for some time this year. Watch for more from

For more information about The Box, its author, and details on book signings, please visit www.slolyn10.wix.com/lynneludwick or on Facebook where it has its own page: https://www.facebook.com/ The-Box-1557516377905693/ and find it on Amazon.com where you can order your own copy.

Edward August Schultz, 1968

able to the accuracy and historical context of her book. “They edited and corrected all the battle scenes,” she said. “I wanted to be sure I got it right.”

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A local man and fellow classmate, Rick Ortner (who served in Vietnam at the same time as Eddy), encouraged Lynne to write the book for all Vietnam vets. “Do it for my brothers,” he said, referring to his fellow soldiers, and to all those who fought and suffered in the war. That was the hardest part, she admits: to keep going, to persevere until the story was all there and then to begin the tedious process of self-publication.

Surprised by her own naiveté, Lynne thought she knew the terrible toll the war had taken.

She’d seen the news footage, she’d read the stories; she’d later seen the movies, she’d read the books. But what she hadn’t realized, until her talks with Eddy’s platoon mates, was that the terror and bloodshed was everywhere, all the time. Unpredictable, with no sense of convention or protocol, the Vietnam War broke all the rules. It killed and maimed and drove men mad in a way no other had before it. “I just didn’t realize it was like that 24-7,” she said.

Response to The Box has been positive, garnering several good reviews—one of which was from a former Reader’s Digest editor who praises the writing and lauds the book.

Lynne is heartened by that because she worried about revealing a private part of her life for all the world to read.

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Knowing there is nothing anyone could say or write, no story told or movie made that A P R I L

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28th annual awards luncheon

nine individuals honored at cuesta college

By Lauren Milbourne Leonard Grant: 1983-1986 / As the principal of RRM Design

Group, Leonard Grant has over 20 years of experience as an architect in San Luis Obispo County. Grant is a member of the local and state chapters of the American Institute of Architects, the Home Builders Association, the Arroyo Grande Hospital Foundation and Habitat for Humanity. “My mission in life is to help create as much housing as possible,” said Grant. “When I graduated from San Luis Obispo High School in 1983, I was not ready for the vigorous architectural education, so Cuesta College was a perfect place to mature and learn to collaborate.”

Brandon Bond: 1993-1995 / Current administrative director of

Cuesta College in its early days

C

uesta College is set to honor nine individuals on April 1 at the 2016 Awards Luncheon. Four Cuesta College alumni representing four decades of the college’s history will be recognized, along with four volunteers who have served the college and community selflessly in a variety of ways, and one faculty member, who will be honored for excellence inside and outside the classroom. The event will take place from 12:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m., on the college’s San Luis Obispo Campus in building 5400, room 5401. Tickets to attend are $20 per person.

2016 Honored Alumni Now in its 28th year, the Honored Alumni awards were established in 1989 to recognize outstanding professional achievements and service of former Cuesta College students.

Dale Gomer: 1966-1968 / Current president of Paso Robles Waste & Recycling, longtime Central Coast resident and leader in environmental responsibility. Dale Gomer played football for Cuesta College, transferred to UCSB with a football scholarship, served as an Army Airborne Medic, and became general manager of the family business in 1984. “I think Cuesta is a tremendous asset to our community,” said Gomer. “The Cuesta faculty give students the tools to move forward and be ready for the next realm of education. It really provides a great foundation.”

John Alan Connerley: 1973-1980 / Former U.S. diplomatic corps Foreign Service officer, legislative assistant to a U.S. Congressman, and Cuesta College instructor. Currently, John Connerley is a Central Coast small business owner specializing in music, entertainment and public relations. “As an Arroyo Grande High School graduate, Cuesta was the perfect place for me to take my first steps in college life,” said Connerley. “I found it to be both a welcoming and a challenging institution, a place where the learning process is nurtured by hometown roots sunk deeply into a robust academic environment.”

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Stanford Health Care, and the Stanford Children’s Health, Office of Emergency Management. Brandon Bond is a Certified Business Continuity Professional and serves as the Safety Officer and Emergency Medical Technician on the U.S. Public Health Services, Bay Area Disaster Medical Assistance Team. He has an extensive history of responding to natural disasters, including the 2010 Haiti Earthquake, and hurricanes Gustav, Ike, Katrina and Rita. “During one of my semesters at Cuesta, I took the Emergency Medical Technician course,” said Bond. “That class set the stage for what has become a career in emergency management. Without the foundation that Cuesta College provided, I would not have been successful in my educational journey and career.”

2016 Volunteer Awards Dr. Frank Martinez Superintendent/President’s Award: Joan Gellert-Sargen First awarded in 2001, this award is given in recognition of the accomplishments of a community volunteer who has contributed time and talent generously, working in partnership with Cuesta faculty or staff resulting in an achievement that might not have happened otherwise.

Joan Gellert-Sargen is a longtime supporter of the performing arts and in January of 2014, she set up the Cynthia Rose Sargen Memorial Endowment in honor of her late daughter who also shared a passion for the arts. The endowment helps support and maintain the college’s Cultural and Performing Arts Center (CPAC). “I feel strongly that this is a wonderful facility,” said Gellert-Sargen. “It’s available to students and their classes, and I want to help keep it functioning at its best.”

Gellert-Sargen is also an active member of the Friends of the CPAC. Gellert-Sargen has also received the Circle of Service Award given by the Family Care Network and the Community Service Award, presented by the Avila Beach Civic Association.

John Schaub Student Volunteer Award: Chanda Miller First awarded in 2001, this award is given to a student whose community volunteer work best exemplifies the high standards established by the college’s first dean of students whose trailblazing work

COMMUNITY in creating programs for student success has helped thousands of students achieve their goals.

Cuesta College student Chanda Miller has served the community through volunteer efforts with the Maxine Lewis Memorial Shelter, Mercy Church Food bank, the Dream Center (focusing on anti-human trafficking and gang prevention), and Mercy Church Services. She is also a caregiver for In-Home Support Services. According to her nominator, “Chanda’s community volunteer work exemplifies the high standards established by this award. The work she does impacts the lives of many people struggling with current cultural issues.”

has also served on the San Luis Obispo Community Foundation.

2016 Faculty Award Peter and M’May Diffley Award for Faculty Excellence: Jeff Grover This award recognizes a faculty member for excellence in teaching and one or more of the following: community and/ or campus activism; involvement in environmental or ecological projects; involvement in the arts; and special motivation to science students.

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and outside the classroom. He recently reintroduced a historical geology class required for the Cuesta College Geology Transfer Degree, led a team of students to the Grand Canyon, and regularly plans field trips to Death Valley and Yosemite as a part of his physical geology course.

According to a former student, “He is the reason I am doing geology for my major.

The way he presents the history of the Earth through his class is nothing short of inspiring and his enthusiasm is unmatched by any other instructor.”

According to his nominator, geology professor Jeff Grover works hard inside

Dr. Merlin E. Eisenbise Service in the Classroom Award: Dr. Jeffrey Gervasi First awarded in 2002, this award recognizes direct service in the classroom which extends our ability to help students. It is given in honor of the District’s first Superintendent/President, Dr. Merlin E. Eisenbise.

Mathematics professor Dr. Jeffrey Gervasi frequently volunteers his time to offer free math tutoring to veterans at Cuesta College; he offered regular tutoring hours twice per week during the fall 2015 and spring 2016 semesters. According to one student, “I have received help from Dr. Gervasi on many occasions. His help had a direct result in my improved grades. His patience, time and expertise are highly appreciated among the veteran population at Cuesta College.”

Betty Nielsen Volunteer of the Year Award: Lyn Baker First awarded in 1995, this award is given in memory of College Trustee Betty Nielsen, considered the epitome of volunteerism.

She served the community and the college unselfishly for many years as an exemplary volunteer in several capacities.

Lyn Baker currently serves as the development chair of the San Luis Obispo Master Chorale, is a volunteer with the Foundation for the Performing Arts Center at Cal Poly, has served as a volunteer for Cal Poly’s first capital campaign effort, and a variety of other organizations. Baker and her husband Jim have also supported the Cuesta College Foundation over the years, contributing to the success of the Theater Arts Building. Baker is a founding member of the Foundation for San Luis Obispo County Public Libraries and A P R I L

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history

joseph galvez

part 2–California’s other founder

By Joe Carotenuti

A

fter years of both personal and political maneuvering, forty-five-year-old Joseph Bernardo Galvez Gallardo was appointed VisitorGeneral to New Spain in 1767.

Primarily to investigate and enhance the Crown’s revenue, he was also granted the power to implement whatever he decided was best for his king.

A major problem involved the northern reaches of New Spain, the Internal Provinces, today’s northern Mexico and America’s southwest. Part of his plan was to subdue the native hostility to Spanish attempts at occupation, establish presidios for protection and colonize the area with the lower classes from larger cities. Not only would this reduce expenses in combating the aggressors but increase revenue as settlers would pay for the privilege of being given land. There would also be sub-regions—comandanciasintendancy—governed locally for more effective management and revenue production.

This included both political and economic connections to the settlements along the Pacific Ocean. Having sent the pioneers north to the future Golden State in 1769, he turned his attention to the northern reaches of New Spain. The resulting battles and occupation are not germane to the California story except to minimize the oft-given answer that the Spaniards hastily were sent north to protect their territory from the Russians. True, the Russians had gradually increased their presence but Galvez’s primary goal was economic; not political.

Here’s the story.

In the complicated and often obtuse interrelationships among European powers, intrigue and conflict were as expected as practiced by the great powers. Power demanded vast sums of wealth as battles raged in the royal courts, on the seas and on land. Often overlooked in popular histories, there was a constant need to generate wealth. Spain’s climb to eminence was too often on the backs of those in the subjugated lands to provide revenue. In the Americas, mineral wealth provided astronomical streams of currency to be translated into the royal will.

Galvez’s initial assignment to rid New Spain of the Jesuits—thus leading to the Franciscan friars who would man the missions—was more than a theological dispute between the Crown and the Society of Jesus. Myth and legend, loved by the Spanish, told of riches hoarded in the remote Baja outposts. Galvez soon learned there was little as the religious spent more time addressing the eternal than the economics of the sparsely settled peninsula. When he organized and ordered the expeditions to the north, there is little to believe the new outposts A P R I L

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in Baja or Alta California would supply any increase to the royal treasury. Galvez was not going to spend valuable funds on a losing investment. Thus, he ordered the existing missions to supply much of the material needed for expansion. Father Junipero Serra, intent on spreading the gospel, bemoaned so much had to be taken for the greater good of evangelization of the new territory.

Less the future be misled, he was not attempting primarily to spread Christianity or even protect his Crown’s territory but as always was looking to supply the royal vaults. The Monterey Expedition’s purpose was to provide a northern anchor to the planned expansion of government control across the vast expanse of northern New Spain.

Overriding his planned reorganization was another semi-myth—the Strait of Anian. Famed today as the Northwest Passage, the strait was an envisioned sea connection between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Once discovered, it would reduce travel time between the great oceans and facilitate the route for the opulence brought by the Spanish galleons in their trade with the East through the Philippine colonies. Of course, the thought of its discovery by either the English or French was unthinkable. Anian was always north and over the history of the quest to find it, the search needed to go further north. Even if discovered, the Monterey Expedition was not equipped for water navigation but any hints as to the strait were not far from Captain Portola’s mind. When he finally arrived at the shores of a great lake—today’s San Francisco Bay— he could only send scouts to unsuccessfully try to travel around its edge.

Galvez’s energy and ambition were those of a human (contrary to what he thought) and his health, both physically and mentally, began to deteriorate. His well-being was not helped by his demand to take charge of the various assaults in the Internal Provinces. He not only demand to lead but to direct the actions of the rest of the military in an unending stream of orders penned by one of his many secretaries.

While the pioneers were struggling to barely survive in the new territory of Alta California, their leader was going mad.

Shortly after sending the expedition north, the Visitor had what today is characterized as a nervous breakdown telling his officers Proposed Intendancy of California

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In this 1790 painting Galvez is to Fr. Serra’s left as he receives his last rights.

while remembering his methods cannot be lightly judged by modern standards.

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Even though the prospect of moving m usually taken as an act of insanity.” Another future, owe to isyourself to learn h sourceyou claims: “His it death supposed to have been due toin apoplexy, but inhome those days carefree living your own for man

History is somewhat obtuse as to his that might have been either poison or the death on June 17, 1787. Galvez’s continued garrote (strangulation).” governmental power, the blatant nepotism Possibly an ignoble, though not unexpected, and disputes with other powerful figures a dedicated, often bizarre, but effecgrew until his enemies—including Charles It’s a fact of life that asend weto get older, Pristine is fully tive career, Galvez’s accomplishments are III—undoubtedly far outnumbered his some day-to-day become tootoday. licensed and insu almost forgotten friends. His biographer writes his death tasks was “from an illness which is characterized much to handle on our own. That All of our worke Contact: jacarotenuti@gmail.com in the language of the time as accidente,

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he had “received a communication from St. Francis of Assisi.” The founder of the Franciscan Order told Galvez his officers were incompetent to continue his battle plans.

To do so, he planned to bring 600 apes from Guatemala, put them into uniforms and unleash an attack on the recalcitrant natives. Less than a year later, he fancied himself the King of Prussia, St. Joseph and, finally, God. When his secretaries reported his deteriorating mental condition, he had them imprisoned. Yet, when he finally returned to Mexico City and was notified in 1770 that Portola and Serra had arrived in Monterey, he insisted on a great celebration in the capital with bells ringing from atop the many churches. The capital of the future intendancy had been reached. It had not been that long ago when he personally helped load the vessels to begin their journey north or established a special port at San Blas to facilitate the sea journey or personally met with the enthusiastic Serra as to the Crown’s plans for the new lands.

Galvez’s interest in California continued when he returned to Spain in 1772 and the powerful position of Minister-General of the Indies. When the history making journey of Juan Bautista de Anza reached the present state and San Luis Obispo in 1774 and 1776, it was at the approval and celebration of Galvez who strongly urged communication between Sonora, New Mexico and Monterey.

Galvez left his imprint in the Americas long after he returned to Spain and exercised enormous power in the court of Charles III. Of his untiring, and debilitating, efforts, as the “Father of Alta California,” history owes him tribute

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our schools

mentoring new employees—An investment in the future

By James J. Brescia, Ed.D. County Superintendent of Schools

“No one learns as much about a subject as one who is forced to teach it.”

—Drucker Peter Ferdinand Drucker, an Austrian-born American management consultant, educator, and author, whose writings contributed to the philosophical and practical foundations of the modern business corporation is often quoted about mentorship in business. “Management is doing things right: leadership is doing the right things.”

Mentoring our next generation of employees may cost more in the short-term, and some may take the skills they gain to seek employment elsewhere, but it is the right thing to do for our organizations or workforce and our future.

The National Bureau of Economic Research found that when highly regarded middle and elementary school teachers were asked to help another teacher regarded low, everyone improved. “The relatively low-performing teachers targeted by our intervention—and ultimately their students—benefited substantially from partnering with a higher-performing colleague at their school,” wrote John Papay, Eric Taylor, John Tyler and Mary Laski, the report’s authors. Unlike

Jack house & gardens

Professional development as a tool for increasing teacher retention rates and student achievement is being applied in several states.

California, Ohio and Florida, have proposed increases in professional development spending. In 2013, the U.S. Department of Education dispersed nearly $30 million for six grant awards to improve teacher effectiveness, all targeted strategically with local control on fund usage. Legislative planners reported additional investment in professional development at a recent education meeting I attended in Sacramento. WestEd also supports this initial commitment. WestEd is a premier national education “Research Think Tank” that advises the California State Board of Education and the Governor.

A research report titled, “Learning Job Skills from Colleagues at Work: Evidence from a Field Experiment Using Teacher Performance Data,” evaluated the pre-experiment and post-experiment student achievement measured by state tests at 14 elementary and middle schools. Seven of these sites served as a control group compared with the seven treatment groups. In each treatment site where highly rated teachers were paired with lower-ranked colleagues was compared to the control site within the Jackson-Madison County School System. Data from similar student demographic enrollments and grade levels were applied to control for possible bias (Papay, Taylor, Tyler and Laski, 2015).

Researchers found that teacher performance improved over the school year at the treatment sites in which teachers were paired up in mentorship teams. The positive results were evident for both experienced and inexperienced teachers. Positive results were even stronger when the mentor and mentee both worked at the same school site.

This data correlates with business research indicating that the geographical location of a firm’s Research and Development (R&D) operations have a statistically significant impact on organizational optimization (Johanson, 2014). I previously wrote about the research detailing four factors that have a positive impact on student success.

These factors include primary caregivers’ education level/involvement, family socioeconomic status, the quality of the classroom teacher and the quality of the school principal. Our tax-payer funded system has the most control over whom we train and employ as our classroom teachers and school principals. The value of a highly qualified teacher or school administrator cannot be underestimated, and we have the opportunity to leverage whom we employ.

Job skills are not only acquired in training programs but also on the job from colleagues. There is substantial empirical evidence about skilled co-workers in human capital development. Peer learning can be as important as on-the-job experiences in professional develop-

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costly professional development courses or graduate degrees, “the one-on-one personalized approach to on-the-job training studied in this paper is apparently much more successful and more costeffective,” they wrote.

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ment for educators and may be a key factor in positive workforce return on tax-payer investment (Rockoff, 2004). At the very least the results from these research studies present positive suggestions for onboarding and retaining the educator workforce.

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APRIL CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS ON PAGE 43

Recent economic figures indicate that our K-12 schools allocate approximately $18 billion each year for professional development courses, $3 billion of which is reportedly paid to external providers. The average educator spends approximately 20 hours of time per year completing these types of courses despite reports of minimal benefit from some of the courses. Additionally, many organizations either increase compensation for completion of courses or directly reimburse the expenses. Considering the lackluster benefit of this type of tax-payer investment further attention should be paid to the positive benefits of investing in mentorships.

There is potential for reductions in retention and hiring costs if school districts strategically pair high-performing educators with new or struggling educators.

“In learning you will teach, and in teaching, you will learn.”

—Phil Collins References Available Upon Request © StatePoint Media

STATEPOINT CROSSWORD THEME: THINK SPRING

ACROSS 1. Boat load 6. Line of work 9. Stairway alternative 13. Hitler’s mistress 14. High or low card 15. Country on Samoan Islands 16. Stiff hair or bristles 17. Kan. neighbor 18. Holy See loyalist practicing different rites 19. *Daylight ____ time 21. *Spring is a symbol of this 23. Much of this about nothing?

24. “Stop!” to marchers 25. Feather glue 28. World’s largest continent 30. To show off 35. Functions 37. Jittery

39. End of a poem 40. *Before you spring clean you make one?

41. Manet’s and Gauguin’s contemporary 43. Seaside bird 44. *”Spring to mind” or “Spring into action,” e.g.

46. Table mineral 47. Equal 48. Correspondence friend 50. Part of ROM 52. *Spring is a cure for ____, acr.

53. As opposed to “want” 55. Pine juice 57. *Vernal event 61. *Japanese spring blossom 64. Knucklehead 65. Wear and tear 67. Made cow noise 69. Old hat 70. June honoree 71. Muscat resident

72. #23 Across, pl.

73. Mama sheep 74. Relating to Scandinavia DOWN 1. *Masters Tournament network 2. Mars, to the Greeks 3. “Pro” follower 4. Exotic jelly flavor 5. Iroquois tribe 6. “More ____ for the buck” 7. *It dissipates in spring 8. Striped equine 9. Raja’s wife 10. Gulf V.I.P. 11. Castle’s line of defense 12. Beaten by walkers 15. Difficult to detect 20. Red-____ like Rudolph 22. Hermey the dentist, e.g.

24. Wasted-looking 25. *Popular spring flower 26. Comment to the audience

27. Pine product 29. *____ of March, or March 15 31. “The ____ Go Marching” 32. Part of eye containing iris, pl.

33. Marilyn Monroe’s given name 34. Pronged, as in three-____ fork 36. “Cut that out!”

38. Ivy League school 42. Bills under mattress 45. Like “The Martian” mission 49. DiCaprio to his friends?

51. Nature spirit in Greek mythology 54. Ooze out 56. Movie trailer, e.g.

57. Cocoyam 58. Leg muscle 59. “Do ____ others as...”

60. Frosts a cake 61. Formally surrender 62. Lion’s warning 63. Strong desires 66. Horror movie series 68. One of a set of dice

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eye on business homes are where his heart is

By Maggie Cox, Barnett Cox & Associates

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first met Scott Smith years ago when our daughters were in school together and he was working for People’s Self Help Housing. I knew Scott to be a caring, hardworking guy with a talent for folk guitar. Now our kids are grown and the work he has devoted his career to—helping our community’s lowest income residents find housing—is delivering real results.

Scott is the executive director of the Housing Authority of SLO, a nonprofit organization / public agency created by the SLO City Council in 1968. HASLO, as it is known, currently provides housing for about 3,000 SLO County households. HASLO clients have incomes that range from nothing to what is defined as “above moderate.” Here’s the kicker to that sentence: in SLO County, a family of three is considered moderate income with a household total of $83,280 per year, or the equivalent of a $40 per hour rate of pay. It’s easy to understand why current housing is out of reach for so many people.

HASLO is one of numerous local organizations working to help close the gap. There are others like People’s Self Help Housing and the SLO County Housing Trust Fund, along with private sector projects like Avila Ranch and San Luis Ranch. And while production is

not keeping pace with need, there are some wonderful success stories.

Moylan Terrace is one of my personal favorites, in part because like so many local residents, I knew and loved George Moylan.

George was the former director of HASLO who died unexpectedly in 2005. He was big in spirit and in physical presence and was an amiable, fun-loving force for change. Under his direction the land for Moylan Terrace was purchased. Scott laughs and says the property, located off Broad Street near the railroad tracks and not far from the Sinsheimer baseball fields, had appeal to George because of his love of both railroads and baseball.

Moylan Terrace, named to honor the visionary George, is today an 80-townhome development that is popping with activity and energy. HASLO was the project developer and subsidized a third of the units to be affordable, price restricted homes selling from $105,000 - $336,000 depending on family income. The remaining 53 units were “affordable by design” homes built for workforce buyers. Modest square footage and higher density construction created units whose selling prices started at $354,900 and included green building features and inviting common space. It’s no surprise this is

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a popular product with buyers. The first 60 units are completed and sold and the final 20 are in construction. Sales for the final 20 will begin in May. Moylan Terrace was recognized in 2014 with a National Award of Excellence from the National Association of Housing and Redevelopment Officials. Scott says the project is a thriving neighborhood where all-income level residents interact with each other, plan BBQ’s and other gettogethers and enjoy a quality of life reminiscent of earlier generations.

Adjacent to Moylan Terrace is “860 On the Wye,” another exciting HASLO project that is about to break ground. The name refers to the street number and the location in the historic railroad area near a former Southern Pacific Railroad “wye,” or triangle of railroad track that was used for turning locomotives or trains. 860 On the Wye will add 20 new apartments, a large community garden and a community building for recreation and services. Ten of the units are reserved for formerly homeless veterans, with services including one-on-one support provided as part of the living arrangement. A “Wall Raising” celebration for this wonderful new project is scheduled for May 31 at 11 a.m.

It’s gratifying to be able to write about forward thinking projects like Moylan Terrace and 860 On the Wye, and people like Scott Smith and his team who are making them happen.

But my interest is more than altruistic. As a business owner with a significant number of young adult employees, I am acutely aware of the tremendous challenge our staff members face in finding any housing, much less housing they can afford to rent or own. The same is true for every business in our area. The housing issues here are having a profound impact on our ability to attract and retain employees, and that will have a long term effect on our business vitality. This is a subject we’ll be talking about more in the coming months. In the meantime, I just want to say hats off and thank you to the people focused on improving housing in our community.

Downtown

Around

The Magazine of Downtown San Luis Obispo

April 2016

Inside: Downtown Perspec t ive B e a ut i f i cat i on Awa rd W i n n e rs Mee t O u r N e we st Te a m Me m be rs

D o w n t o w n

P e r s p e c t i v e

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Dominic Tartaglia, Executive Director

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ierre Rademaker is not only a good friend of mine but a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the history of Downtown San Luis Obispo. On a March afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting with Pierre in his office (located in the historic Johnson Building) while he provided an insider’s perspective on the Downtown Concept Plan. While sitting in his office I could not help but notice that this was the perfect setting to hear the story of such a unique document.

here are several upstairs offices in the Johnson Building but Rademaker has the corner office and the panoramic view that goes with it. When you enter his office one of the most stunning features is an arch in the middle of the room and numerous designs, sketches and campaign button logos contrast with the exposed brick walls. This office is certainly dedicated to preserving history and on that day I learned the arch was a promise to Les Neman (owner of the building until his recent passing) to preserve the historic character of this building. The only thing that can trump the beauty of the design of this office is the view out the windows that overlook the corner of Chorro and Higuera Streets. I could not help but look out the window as Rademaker recounted the Downtown

Concept Plan story; there was just too much excitement with people and vehicles bustling about below. As the conversation progressed I imagined a sea of characters walking through Downtown as it was 20 years ago and what they might look like in the future.

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s the story goes, it was in a late ’80s Parking and Access Committee meeting at Sebastian’s that Ken Schwartz displayed a hand drawn plan and explained the need for a master plan for Downtown. As the conversation progressed, the City Council asked City Manager John Dunn to build a team that would draft a master plan for the Downtown area with the intention of combatting the recession and advancing various stalled projects. Downtown at this time had just one parking structure on Palm Street, numerous traffic circulation issues and very different storefronts than we see today. An official design team was formed in the early ’90s and consisted of Chuck Crotser, Rod Levin, Andrew Merriam, Ken Schwartz, and of course Pierre Rademaker; their objective Pierre Rademaker was to provide a direction for future development and in the words of Rademaker, “Inspire faith in the future of Downtown.”

On the Cover: Local band, Fialta, performing at last year's Fresh Picked Concert Series during Downtown SLO Farmers' Market. This year's season kicks off on April 7th with Truth About Seafood taking the stage. Photo by Mukta Naran

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demise of Main Street America. ventually, a double-sided and overWhile we were not talking about sized poster was the final product after the Concept Plan per se, the many hours of discussion and drafting. conversation affirmed careful Rademaker explained how vastly different planning of urban centers with the project was in those days; it was a day historical perspective is what set in which the team rolled up their sleeves our Downtown apart from cities and got to work with less community that let theirs fail. It certainly involvement than we see today. It was inspired projects that secured a not so much a process of excluding future for Downtown. community participation but driven by the fact that the community did not care ventually, the discussion about Downtown in the same way they wandered into the topic of do today. Around this time there were Original Downtown Concept Plan posters (above) can plans to relocate the county government be found in multiple local offices and Cal Poly classrooms building moratoriums and the implication that several groups are where it serves as a guide toward future development. buildings out of Downtown and this team advocating for them. Rademaker drafted a plan that kept the government pointed out that this was a big difference from the first plan, buildings and courthouse Downtown. When pressed on this the concept of not building was not an issue then. Although, subject further, Rademaker responded that, “If there was just he chuckles as he recounts the small uproar when Sunshine one great success from the original Concept Plan it would be Donuts was replaced by the County Government Center. keeping the government center Downtown; it was a total win.”

While today there is a contingent of residents pleading for He then proceeds to list off the folks involved with the process a building moratorium, a building moratorium in the ’90s as if flipping through a mental Rolodex. and 2000s would have likely led to the death of Downtown s the discussion continued we got a bit off track and our San Luis Obispo as we know it. SLO’s unreinforced masonry chat turned into a slideshow of Downtown buildings and building retrofit program initiated building improvements and the physical changes that they endured as our community expansions that likely would not have occurred otherwise. As a result, many storefronts were updated and are reminiscent of cycled through economic changes. Changes that included their original architecture. the industrial revolution, Great Depression and post war eras and the eventual move away from urban centers that was the Continued on next page

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D o w n t o w n

P e r s p e c t i v e

Continued from previous page unique buildings keep our district true to its Main Those Street American roots and contrast with the plaster

covered shells of the shopping malls that once threatened our existence. the end of our conversation I came to a very clear Byrealization.

To see a man with so much love for a place is

an extremely powerful thing. John Muir had great passion for

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the Sierras and Pierre shares that passion for Downtown SLO. Those passions are what have rallied countless people behind these men to preserve special places for the enjoyment of generations to come.

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f you would like to participate in the Downtown Concept Plan, you can visit the www.SLOCity.org/downtown. The website has up-to-date information, a schedule of meetings and an option to elect to receive eNotifications.

A w a r d

W i n n e r s

Tenant Improvements: Retail, Remodel: Merit HumanKind Fair Trade, 982 Monterey Street Tenant Improvements: Retail, Remodel: Excellence 2 Blondes Boutique, 1115 Broad Street Façade Improvements: Excellence The Collection on Marsh, 712-728 Marsh Street Signage/Awning: Ambiance Clothing Boutique, 737 Higuera Street Straight Down Clothing, 845 Higuera Street Merchandising: Change of a Dress, 785 Marsh Street Bath & Body Works, 842 Higuera Street Len Collective, 570 Higuera Street, Suite 152 Passport, 968 Monterey Street Patrick James, Inc., 641 Higuera Street, Suite 100 Chairman’s Award: Bill Roalman Bike Boulevard Expansion, Intersection of Morro & Pacific Streets

he SLO Downtown Association recently awarded honors to nearly two dozen businesses at its 27th Annual Beautification Awards Social. The awards are given to those businesses that made physical or aesthetic improvements toward keeping Downtown beautiful in the 2015 calendar year. Beautification Award Committee members Landy Fike, Ryan Brockett, Karen Kile, Dominic Tartaglia, and Brent Vanderhoof assisted chair Marshall Ochylski in jurying the candidates and categorizing the awards, the winners are as follows: New Construction: Excellence Old Mission School Annex, 772 Palm Street Tenant Improvements: New: Merit Sweetie Cup Tea House, 1118 Chorro Street Tenant Improvements: New: Excellence Bluebird Salon, 742 Marsh Street Tenant Improvements: Hospitality, Remodel: Merit Spencer Makenzie's, 1085 Higuera Street Tenant Improvements: Hospitality, Remodel: Excellence Bello Mundo Cafe, 974 Monterey Street Tenant Improvements: Service, Remodel: Merit JCC Federation of SLO, 578 Marsh Street Tenant Improvements: Service, Remodel: Excellence Level Beauty Bar, 778 Marsh Street Tenant Improvements: Retail, Remodel: Merit

Mayor’s Award: The Townhomes at Old Church Place (pictured right), 871877 Pacific Street

LUSH Fresh Handmade Cosmetics, 1070 Court Street, Suite 207

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N e w e s t

Te a m

M e m b e r s Management. Vanessa was an Events Intern with the Downtown Association last spring where she participated in the planning and implementation of Downtown SLO Farmers' Market and the special events that took place at The Market. She has gained numerous abilities through her education, work, and volunteer experiences that she plans to utilize with the Downtown Association, including customer service skills and previous knowledge in special events.

hantal Peterson is our new Market Manager and she’s more than excited to take on one of her favorite SLO activities—Downtown SLO Farmers’ Market! One of her main goals is to make positive relationships with the community while continuing to grow The Market in a happy and healthy environment.

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hantal grew up in Morro Bay and graduated from Cal Poly with a Chantal Peterson Vanessa Martinez degree in Agricultural Business and a minor in Wine and Viticulture. She continued to stay on the beautiful Central Coast and became the director and coordinator for s a San Diego native, she enjoys the quaint appeal two local wedding and event venues. Here, she strengthened that San Luis Obispo has to offer and loves to take her her skills in customer satisfaction while organizing people and friends and family to eat and shop at the local businesses events with a smile and helpful hand. She loves to be a part of Downtown when they come to visit. She also likes to a dynamic and hardworking team and can’t wait to meet you! hike and explore the outdoors of the Central Coast.

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anessa Martinez has joined our team as a Special Events Coordinator. She is a recent graduate from Cal Poly and received her degree in Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration with an emphasis in Event Planning and

V

anessa is incredibly excited to collaborate with the amazing people that work with or contribute to the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association and to be a part of the legacy it is leaving this beautiful city.

COMMUNITY

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Palm street perspective Water facts, water fears, water politics

By SLO City Councilwoman, Carlyn Christianson

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t’s been a year since I last wrote about water conservation, and it’s raining as I write now. But water is always a major California issue and always will be no matter what our weather does. I’ll note that water has also become more politicized locally, both in the north county where forming a Water District to manage their depleted groundwater basin and avoid a State takeover was rejected by voters, and here in San Luis Obispo, where water fears are sometimes being used to manipulate opinions about growth and development. So let’s talk about water facts, and leave the fearmongering to those with less connection to veracity.

First, it’s important to truly understand what good lessons the city and the community of San Luis Obispo learned in the last drought in the early 1990s. The community learned to conserve like crazy and it invested millions of dollars to vastly add to our water supply, by building the Nacimiento pipeline (a massive resource) and a city water recycling system. Plus it invested deeply in highly competent watersavvy staff, and in critical planning for future drought.

Our city staff, in the Planning and Utilities departments, is extremely dedicated to ensuring that the city has water, will have water, and will always have water. The city’s key functions—whether our grocery stores and hospitals, our firefighters and schools, our wastewater & fresh water systems, our economic vitality and quality of life—our very existence, obviously, all depends on water. As a direct result of our city’s experience with the earlier drought—where we came within 18 months of “no water”—San Luis Obispo knows about water!!

I put those words in quotations because of course well before then our Water Shortage Contingency Plan kicks into gear. This is a step-bystep plan of what actions will be taken to ensure our continued water supply, and when. (Type the name into the “Search” box on the city’s home page www.slocity.org, you’ll see “Chapter 8-San Luis Obispo,” click on that.)

The plan details what kinds of actions become mandatory, and when, among many other considerations—including when it would be appropriate to seriously consider an actual building moratorium, an extremely drastic step.

Together with the city’s conservative safety net built around our water supply sources and multilayered water models, and our other realistic options for added water supply such as groundwater and greatly increased recycled water use, plus the Water Shortage Contingency Plan (and the Urban Water Management Plan in general), the City of San Luis Obispo continues to consider and prepare for the possibilities and implications of ongoing drought—built on facts, not on fear ... or politics.

Our city’s water models used for planning not only assume full buildout (57,000 people compared to today’s 46,000) but also add several thick layers of reliability reserves which are calculated to complex levels of detail. So all of the possible development that the city might build in the next 20 years is already included in the water estimates—and the estimates are highly conservative themselves. SLO has been very sensible about water with regard to approving development, far more so than the county and many cities in this region, and indeed in California.

Our city’s “wet water” model is also highly conservative and based on cautious, multifaceted calculations. This model tells us how much actual water we have left to use right now. It takes into account current water use and the 1% growth allowed in our General Plan—which we have not and will not exceed, even with the development under way and especially since there was near zero development for a number of years during the recession. It includes the current amounts of water available from our various reservoirs, plus all the factors that affect those reservoirs such as heat and wind and rainfall variations. For instance, right now the model assumes the very worst case scenario: 10 inches of rainfall a year going forward (based on rainfall amounts near Reservoir Canyon, see www.slocountywater.org). Even with exceedingly prudent, built-in over-estimates of use and under-estimates of supply, that still gives the city well over three years before we “run out” of water.

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With the Encore Endowment Campaign behind it, the Foundation is now able to fulfill its subsequent goal of expanding community access to the PAC through its own grant program. The Clifton Swanson PAC Community Access Fund is currently accepting applications from nonprofit arts groups that have secured dates to perform at the PAC during the 2016-2017 season. Applications must be filed by April 1 and recipients will be announced in May. To apply, please visit http:// fpacslo.org or email info@pacslo.org for more information.

8th annual wine-4-paws

2016 live oak festival art picked

The magic and fantasy of Alice in Wonderland has been transformed into a musical and tie-dyed vision for the 2016 Live Oak Music Festival artwork. Held June 17-19, the annual Father’s Day weekend festival is a three-day medley of camping, concerts, crafts, food and drinks at Live Oak Camp in the picturesque Santa Ynez Mountains.

Created by local Shell Beach artist Colleen Gnos, the whimsical and rich oil painting depicts the Cheshire Cat slapping the upright bass in a madcap musical jam accompanied by Alice and the Mad Hatter, who is portrayed as festival Emcee Joe Craven. All Live Oak Music Festival proceeds benefit KCBX Public Radio. Ticket information for the 2016 Live Oak Music Festival, entertainment line-up, and complete festival details are available at liveoakfest.org.

fpac announces new community fund

Local nonprofit performing arts groups who call the Performing Arts Center their home will now have greater access to the venue through a new grants program launched by the Foundation for the Performing Arts Center. The Clifton Swanson PAC Community Access Fund will provide competitive grants for direct financial support for PACrelated performance expenses. The new fund is named to honor local symphony musician and PAC principal supporter Clifton Swanson.

Join us April 9th-10th as we raise funds for Woods Humane Society! Choose from over 70 Central Coast wineries and olive oil producers—enjoy our beautiful wine region while supporting a great cause. Wine 4 Paws is an annual weekend benefitting Woods Humane Society. With the money raised, Woods can continue to provide a high level of care to their guests and assist other local shelters. Please join us as we help homeless animals in our area who await their “forever homes.” No advance tickets needed! Print your free map/passport off the website, or grab one at any participating winery during the event. Get your passport stamped when you help generate a donation and you’ll be entered in our raffle! Visit www.wine4paws.com for more info.

applications available for miss cmsf pageant

Applications are now being accepted for the 2016 Miss California Mid-State Fair Pageant. Contestants must be between the ages of 17-22 on opening day of the 2016 Fair, be a current resident of SLO County, and have never been married. Each contestant will compete in five categories: Interview, Platform, Talent, Swimsuit and Evening Wear.

In addition, each contestant will establish a platform of service for the Fair. If selected as Queen or a Princess, they must be able to attend every day of the 2016 Fair, participating in numerous public events such as introducing performers, taking pictures and meeting with various dignitaries. The pageant takes place on Tuesday, July 19th. A no-obligation orientation meeting will be held Wednesday, April 6th, at 6pm in the Skybox at the Paso Robles Event Center. Applications are officially due Friday, April 15th and are available at the Paso Robles Event Center, 2198 Riverside, Paso Robles or on-line at www. midstatefair.com. For more information, contact pageant coordinator Patti Lucas at 805-612-6971 or via email at pglucas19@gmail.com.

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calling all artists: Open studios art tour

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Applications are now available to SLO County visual artists from all disciplines for the Open Studios Art Tour. The 2016 Tour takes place countywide the weekends of October 8/9 & 15/16, 10am to 5pm each day. The Open Studios Art Tour gives artists the opportunity to develop relationships with new customers, make sales, secure commissions and share their artistic process with visitors. Act now as the Early Bird rate ends April 24th! Thinking about participating in Open Studios Art Tour, but have lots of questions? Would like to join in, but don’t have studio space?

More information can be found by visiting: artsobispo.org/openstudios-art-tour-participants or contact programs@artsobispo. org, 805.544.9251. We are here to help!

“brew at the zoo”

The Charles Paddock Zoo is pleased to announce its 2nd Annual “Brew at the Zoo!” This event will be taking place on Saturday, April 30th from 5-8:30 pm. A fun evening is in store with a sampling of over 15 microbreweries and cider for you to enjoy while strolling through the Zoo! Attendees will receive a collectible beer glass for tastings and music will be provided!

Food and merchandise will be available for purchase too. Tickets are $30 per person and designated drivers are $5 per person. If tickets are still available, they will be $35 per person at the door.

Over 100 animals call the Charles Paddock Zoo home, including red pandas, monkeys, meerkats, parrots, a Malayan Tiger, a variety of reptiles and more! Come celebrate a fun evening in an exclusive setting tasting the variety of cider and microbrews.

This special event will be closed to the public and open for guests 21 years old and over! If you are a brewery or cider house and interested in participating in this event, please contact Terrie Banish at (805) 470-3490. Plan ahead and see you at the Zoo! For more information about the Zoo, please visit us at www. charlespaddockzoo.org or call (805) 461-5080.

atascadero quota club fundraiser

On April 15, from 6:30pm to 9pm, Quota of Atascadero presents a Snazzy Evening at the Pavilion on The Lake. There will be a silent auction of original art by local artists, both professional and amateur. All pieces are 10” x 10” or smaller, such as Oils; Acrylic; Water Based Painting; Watercolor; Collage; Photo; Stitchery; Metal; Wood; Quilting, etc. Music, Entertainment, Wine and Refreshments will round out this fun evening. Admission is $25 (cash or check).

Tickets are available at the door or by calling 805/ 712-9824 or e-mail joeannbruzzo@gmail.com. Students under eighteen admitted free.

Help Quota to continue their mission of supporting community needs in the past 41 years.

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canzona women’s ensemble’s new executive director

Canzona Women’s Ensemble is pleased to announce the addition of Erin McCall to the organization. McCall previously served as the Administrative Manager for the local Central Coast Children’s Choir for more than eight years and has worked at New Times Media and a local PR & Marketing firm. She believes that her background in marketing and fundraising will be an asset to helping the nonprofit grow its audience. “It’s such an honor to be involved with a group of passionate, dynamic women,” said McCall. “To experience women’s voices raised in song is a powerful thing, and the demand for live, choral music in our community is evident.” McCall follows in the footsteps of Pat Harris who recently completed her tenure as the first Executive Director for Canzona.

5th annual slo walk to defeat als

sample some of their finest food and drink offerings to attendees.

In addition to the tastings, the event will feature live music by Rio Salinas featuring Louie Ortega, as well as a wide selection of silent auction baskets. Tickets can be purchased at www. flavorofslo.com, and are $45 presale and $50 at the door, and students with valid ID’s can receive presale tickets for $35. Only 75 student tickets will be made available. Flavor of SLO is a fundraiser for the United Way and has been organized by the SLO Rotaract Club. “We are so excited to partner again with Rotaract | SLO for this year’s Flavor of SLO event because of their commitment to enriching and serving the SLO Community,” stated Leslie McKinley, United Way’s Resource Development Director. For more information, or to purchase admission tickets, please visit www.flavorofslo.com or email the 2016 event coordinators at flavorofslo@gmail.com. For more information about the United Way of San Luis Obispo County, visit www. unitedwayslo.org or call (805) 541-1234.

central coast’s flavor of slo

Mustang News is celebrating 100 years of delivering the news at California Polytechnic State University. The student-run media organization, known today as Mustang News, can trace its beginnings to April 25, 1916, when what was then called The Polygram began regular bi-weekly publication. Students who learned their craft across Cal Poly’s various media platforms have gone on to leadership positions in organizations all over the globe. The anniversary celebration will continue throughout the rest of this year, wrapping up with a symposium and dinner gala on Oct. 14 and 15, 2016. For more information, contact Mary Glick, journalism department chair, at mmglick@calpoly.edu, or Paul Bittick, student media general manager, at pbittick@calpoly.edu.

The ALS Association Golden West Chapter proudly announces the 5th Annual SLO Walk to Defeat ALS® on April 9, at Mitchell Park, in the heart of Downtown SLO. This annual spring event brings incredible energy and an outpouring of support for those affected by ALS in our County. Participants are invited to join other members of the community for a family-friendly morning of celebration, exercise, education, awareness, music, food, and kids’ fun. Registration opens at 9:30am, followed by opening ceremonies at 10:30am and a Walk start at 11am. The two-mile walk starts and ends at Mitchell Park, wrapping around through the Downtown area. This special community event is open to the public and all funds raised support the interdependent mission priorities of The ALS Association Golden West Chapter in Care Services, Public Policy, and Research. For more information or to register for the San Luis Obispo Walk, please visit the website at www.walktodefeatals.org or www.alsagoldenwest.org.

Flavor of SLO, a community event featuring tastings of local restaurants, wineries, and breweries, is returning on Saturday, April 30th from 1pm – 4pm at the Jack House & Gardens in Downtown SLO. Dozens of Central Coast businesses will come together on the grassy lawns of the Jack House & Gardens to

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cal poly mustang news celebrates 100

THE BULLETIN BOARD assistance league receives ccfc grant

In a show of support, Central Coast Funds for Children has awarded Assistance League of SLO County a $1500 grant. The grant will aid Assistance League in its annual effort to provide new clothing to disadvantaged children through its Operation School Bell® program. For the current school year, this program benefitted more than 1400 students in grades Kindergarten through 12.

This year, Assistance League celebrates 20 years of serving local families. During this time, the organization has provided over 20,000 students with school-appropriate clothing. In addition to the generosity of grantors, donors, and sponsors, Assistance League helps raise necessary funds to support its philanthropic programs through Assistance League’s Thrift Store, located at 667 A Marsh Street, San Luis Obispo. For more information on both of these organizations, visit: www.alslocounty.org and http:// centralcoastfundsforchildren.

rita marie goehner memorial fundraiser

Please join us at SLO Provisions to remember Rita Marie Goehner on Saturday, April 2nd, from 10am-7pm. SLO Provisions, located at 1255 Monterey St, SLO, features a wonderful menu of delicious selections including family style dinners, sandwiches, farm fresh salads, soups and delightful desserts. Stop by for breakfast, lunch or dinner. Take-out orders are also available. Rita’s Rainbows is a local all volunteer non-profit dedicated to helping children

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in need. Rita’s Rainbows was established in 2008 in memory of Rita Marie Goehner who grew up in San Luis Obispo. 100% of all donations goes to provide charitable assistance both financially and through programs to benefit children and teens in need.

pacific western bank supports bb/bs

Big Brothers Big Sisters of SLO County is proud to announce Pacific Western Bank as the Presenting Sponsor for the BIG EVENT fundraiser for the 6th consecutive year. The $6,000 gift brings their giving total to $30,000 in support of the agency’s mentoring programs. The ‘Big Taste at the BIG EVENT’ is June 18, 2016 at Thousand Hills Ranch in Pismo Beach. Big Brothers Big Sisters Development Director, Patty Carpenter said “Community support is vital to our mentoring programs and Pacific Western Bank has fully funded over 27 matches in the last six years. Relationships like this are the core of our agency’s success and we are grateful for the continued support of Pacific Western Bank.” In the photo above from left to right: Machele DuBois, Patty Carpenter and Claire Vollmer of Big Brothers Big Sisters, Tom Strait, Pacific Western Bank, Anna Boyd-Bucy and Christie Clemons from Big Brothers Big Sisters.

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unitarian church donates to get on the bus

garbagemen’s assoc. donates to boys/girls club

Get On The Bus, a CA non-profit that reunites children with their incarcerated parents, was presented a check for $1,545.30 from the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of SLO County which donates their second Sunday offering each month to a local nonprofit serving the SLO community. The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship joins the SLO County Community in funding 9 buses of children to visit their fathers at California Men’s Colony on May 14, 2016. For more information go to www.getonthebus.us. In the photo: left to right: Judy Hornaday, Community Outreach Offering Director, Katie Grainger, Get On The Bus Volunteer; Susan Olson, Get On The Bus Regional Coordinator of the Central Coast.

Lynn Compton, 4th District Supervisor, joined the Garbagemen’s Association in their support of the Boys & Girls Club of South SLO County. They donated $4,000 that will support the programs for the Boys & Girls Club Members. Their support improves the resources for the over 300 members of the Boys & Girls Club. McDonalds also donated $1500 to the program as well. The Boys & Girls Club (members ages 5 to 18) provides before and after school enrichment programs and a Teen Center.

The services are focused in the 5 cities area. To support the Boys & Girls Club or find out more, visit www.bgcslo.org. Pictured: Back row, left to right: Art Spoo, Frank Kelton, Lynn Compton, John Ryan, Pete Sysak, Jack Smith. Front row, left to right: Hayden, Debbie Perrault, Ulices.

french medical center earns top honors

slo wine country welcomes new board members

The French Hospital Medical Center (FHMC) Foundation was recently named “Foundation of the Year” at the third annual Dignity Health Philanthropy ‘Phillies’ Awards held in February. The Foundation attained this honor by exceeding numerous strict measures for its performance in fiscal year 2015. (FHMC is also elated to announce that it has been named one of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® for the third time in a row

by Truven Health Analytics, a leading provider of information solutions to improve the cost and quality of health care. Modern Healthcare, in conjunction with Truven Health Analytics, yesterday released its findings and identified the Nation’s 100 top U.S. hospitals based on their overall performance. The award winners represent the highest national standards in hospital care and management and FHMC is among 100 hospitals in the United States to be recognized with this achievement.

For more information about the FHMC Foundation, please visit www. supportfrenchhospital.org or call 805-542-6496.

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The (SLO) Wine Country Association today announced the addition of three newly elected members to its all-volunteer board of directors. The vote took place at the organization’s owners’ meeting held recently at Edna Valley Vineyard. The newly elected board members are June McIvor, the general manager for Tolosa Winery, who will act as treasurer; Fintan Du Fresne, winemaker for Chamisal Vineyards, who will act as secretary; and Coby Parker-Garcia, winemaker for Claiborne & Churchill Winery, who will act as vice president of the board.

As part of the six-member board, the new board members will hold two-year terms as they share in the mission to promote all that SLO Wine Country has to offer. They will join existing board members Brian Talley, president of the board and president of Talley Vineyards and Talley Farms; Lindy LoveHanning of Edna Valley Vineyard; and Jean-Pierre Wolff, who occupies the board’s Governmental Affairs seat and is the owner and vintner for Wolff Vineyards.

free senior health care screening

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.

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aauw morro bay garden tour

Slo children’s museum adds new boardmembers

The SLO Children’s Museum Board of Directors recently welcomed two new board members to its ranks, just as the organization saw all-time highs in members and attendance during 2015. Wells Fargo Bank’s Linda Minton and Jessica Chavez of El Dorado Broadcasters have each been elected to three-year terms. Newly elected officers include Lindsey Haring (president), Ellen Drews (vice president), Craig Filipponi (treasurer) and Carla Swift (secretary). Returning directors include Marsha Lifter, Alison Bell, Lisa Rizzo and John Summer. The Children’s Museum just concluded a record-breaking year. Close to 600 families are now members of the Children’s Museum. More than 50,000 guests visited the museum, many on field trip scholarships or through free-pass partnerships with local nonprofits. The Children’s Museum inspires children ages 2-10, and is located at 1010 Nipomo St. in downtown SLO.

op C.O.Y. classic celebrity golf tournament

Op C.O.Y. (Operation Coaching Our Youth) is excited to host our Op C.O.Y. Classic–Celebrity Golf Tournament on June 3rd, at the Avila Beach Golf Resort. The proceeds from this event will benefit a residential camp for at-risk adolescent males. Our special celebrity guest is Major League Hall of Famer and former St. Louis Cardinal, Ozzie Smith. He will play in the tournament and be the guest speaker at the dinner which will be held at the Alex Madonna Expo Center. Ozzie will be joined by other celebrity golfers including several retired NFL players, local officials and community leaders.

A number of sponsorship packages are available. Bidding is open for the “Tournament Sponsorship” which includes playing 18 holes of golf with Ozzie Smith. All our major sponsors will have an opportunity to attend a “Celebrity Meet and Greet” on June 2nd, the evening before the tournament. Visit our tournament website at http://www.birdeasepro.com/opcoy for more details. Registration for a foursome, threesome or single golfer opened on March 1st.

The 30th annual AAUW Garden Tour, sponsored by the Morro Bay American Association of University Women, will be held on Sunday, April 24th, from noon to 5pm. Five gardens in Morro Bay and Los Osos will be open to tour. The AAUW Garden Tour is a fund-raising event benefiting Community Educational Projects including scholarships and UC Santa Barbara’s Tech Trek Science and Math Camp for middle school girls. Tickets are $10 for the selfguided tour of the gardens and are available at Coalesce Bookstore in Morro Bay, SAGE Ecological Landscapes in Los Osos, Volumes of Pleasure Bookshop in Los Osos and Farm Supply, or from any AAUW member. For more information visit morrobayaauw.org or call 805-772-1364.

teen artists display at paso library

Enjoy the winning entries of Brushmarks—the Library’s juried art competition for local teen artists—now in its 10th year! The Paso Robles City Library is located at 1000 Spring Street and is open Monday – Friday 10-8, and Saturday 10-5. For more information on library programs and events, please call 237-3870 or visit www.prcity.com/library.

April botanical garden events

Event 1: Audubon Bird Walk at SLO Botanical Garden. Time and date: Saturday, April 2, 9am-11am.

Event 2: Kids’ Cooking at SLO Botanical Garden. Time and date: Sunday, April 10, 1pm-3:30pm.

Event 3: Earth Day Fest at SLO Botanical Garden. Time and date: Sunday, April 24, 10am-5pm.

Location: San Luis Obispo Botanical Garden, 3450 Dairy Creek Rd / El Chorro Regional Park. For more information on these events call: 805-541-1400 x 304.

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

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We helped more people purchase a home in 2015 than any other lender in San Luis Obispo County.

Thank You! OPES ADVISORS

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733 Marsh Street, Suite 200 | San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 | 805.250.2400 | opesadvisors.com Opes Advisors is licensed by the CA Department of Business Oversight under the California Residential Mortgage Lending Act, License #4150089, CA Bureau of Real Estate 01458652, loans will be made pursuant to the Residential Mortgage Lending Act, CO Registration Regulated by the Division of Real Estate, Idaho MBL8530, Montana Mortgage Lender License #235584, Oregon ML4902, Washington CL1178435, Wyoming #2667 and NMLS 235584. Equal Housing Opportunity Lender. Opes Advisors is a registered investment advisor with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Š 2016 Opes Advisors, Inc. All rights reserved.

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