GRENDA ERNST | LOREN NICHOLSON | BARRY LEWIS | GARY GROSSMAN
Journal AUGUST 2014
MAGAZINE OF THE CENTRAL COAST
LANCE KINNEY
PLUS
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Wow!! What a spectacular city and hilltop view!! Comfortable custom 3 bed, 2 1/2 bath home. In the city but with a country feel. Living room and kitchen have vaulted ceilings, many windows and is flooded with color and light. Four distinct levels. Private jacuzzi off master bd. Numerous Upgrades! Don’t miss this one! $695,000
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Conveniently located, just minutes from shopping, beaches, and championship golf courses, this lovely, 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath home provides a spacious living room with a selfstarting, heat venting fireplace, Private front court yard, large terrace w/ panoramic views. New GE kitchen appliances. Move-in ready. $465,000
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Inviting, Large 3 bedroom 2 bath home in the quiet neighborhood of Majorca Homes. Private gated courtyard, Large living, family and formal dining rooms boast high vaulted ceilings. Beautiful views looking out on the landscaped front yard. Large side paved area with gate for your ‘toys’ or dog run! Don’t miss seeing this lovely home! $329,500
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Feed the meter. Feed the homeless. When you give someone a handout you could actually be feeding their addiction and keeping them on the streets longer. Make change count. Colorful donation meters have been installed in Downtown San Luis Obispo to collect coins to support local nonprofits that improve the lives of the homeless in our community. Support solutions by donating your change today or giving online at SLOhelpthehomeless.com.
Hello humankindness
TM
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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GARY GROSSMAN
PHONE 805.546.0609 E-MAIL slojournal@fix.net WEBSITE www.slojournal.com
EDITOR & PUBLISHER Steve Owens ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER Erin Mott GRAPHIC DESIGNER Dora Mountain COPY EDITOR Susan Stewart PHOTOGRAPHER Tom Meinhold DISTRIBUTION Keith Malcomson, Kyle Owens
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GRENDA ERNST
TEAH ANDERS
ADVERTISING Jan Owens CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Susan Stewart, Natasha Dalton, Joseph Carotenuti, Dr. Julian Crocker, Sarah Hedger, Maggie Cox, Will Jones, Deborah Cash, Ruth Starr, Heather Young, Joan Sullivan, Carlyn Christianson and Gail Pruitt. Mail subscriptions are available at $20 per year. Back issues are $2 each. Inquires concerning advertising or other information made by writing to Steve Owens, JOURNAL PLUS MAGAZINE, 654 Osos Street, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401. You can call us at 546-0609, our fax line is 546-8827, and our e-mail is slojournal@fix.net. View the entire magazine on our website at www.slojournal.com JOURNAL PLUS MAGAZINE is a free monthly distributed to over 600 locations throughout the Central Coast and is also available online at slojournal.com Editorial submissions are welcome but are published at the discretion of the publisher. Submissions will be returned if accompanied by a stamped self addressed envelope. No material published in the magazine can be reproduced without written permission. Opinions expressed in the byline articles are those of the writers and not necessarily those of the JOURNAL PLUS MAGAZINE. Cover photo by Tom Meinhold
PEOPLE 8 10 12 14 16
GRENDA ERNST LOREN NICHOLSON PETE SCHWARTZ TEAH ANDERS BARRY LEWIS—SLO County Law Library
HOME & OUTDOOR 18 20 24 26
CALL TO THE COLORS LANCE KINNEY FOOD / AT THE MARKET
COMMUNITY 28 29 32 34 36 42
OUR SCHOOLS—Dr. Julian Crocker EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION HISTORY: Eulogy for the Bookmobile HOSPICE CORNER / CROSSWORD PUZZLE PALM STREET Councilwoman Christianson COMMUNITY BULLETIN BOARD
BUSINESS
37 DOWNTOWN SLO What’s Happening 46 EYE ON BUSINESS
GARY GROSSMAN Coastal Community Builders
A U G U S T
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COMING UP AT THE
PERFORMING ARTS CENTER Dancin' 2014 August 17 • 2 p.m. Christopher Cohan Center Presented by Academy of Dance
Blue Man Group September 23 & 24 • 7:30 p.m. Christopher Cohan Center Presented by Cal Poly Arts
Schoohouse Rock Live! September 26 • 7 p.m. Christopher Cohan Center Presented by Cal Poly Arts
Dave Barry September 27 • 8 p.m.
Christopher Cohan Center Presented by Cal Poly Arts
Gordon Lightfoot September 30 • 8 p.m.
Christopher Cohan Center Presented by SBL Entertainment
WWW.PACSLO.ORG | 805-756-4TIX (4849)
From the publisher
F
or the past several months there has been revived progress in developing the Dalidio Ranch property. The developer, Gary Grossman of Coastal Community Builders (CCB) is the man behind this latest proposed project. CCB is working on or has completed several other major projects on the Central Coast. We thought it would be a good time to profile Gary and let our readers get to know his personal side.
In this month’s issue we continue to feature several people who make a difference, beginning with our cover story on Lance Kinney and his fantastic photography. For several years my wife and I have enjoyed his almost daily shots of our beautiful country. Pictured above is our photographer, Tom Meinhold preparing Lance for our cover shot. You’ll love his story and photos inside. Our quarterly Vets column is in this issue along with an interview with local historian Loren Nicholson, Cal Poly Professor Pete Schwartz and Barry Lewis from the County Law Library. Finally, Will Jones recently sat down with our local school officials and wrote a comprehensive piece on the successful early childhood educational programs in the district. Plenty of good reading again this month. Enjoy the magazine,
Steve Owens
A proud tradition of serving our community for over 30 years
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Panoramic views from
SAN LUIS OBISPO – A great house with an oversized lot. Awesome updated backyard with professional landscaping. Three bedrooms and bamboo flooring in one of the bedrooms. A great house for entertaining and an extra sun room that adds additional square footage with an indoor/outdoor feel. Wood burning fireplace, on demand water heater, two car garage and close to parks and across the street from Laguna Lake. $599,000 #3235
this spectacular hillside home on 10 acres in the heart of Edna Valley wine region. Spectacular 2700 sf single level three bedroom, three bath home with 900 sf attached garage, 650 sf bonus room and over 800 sf of storage. All this plus a detached 1600 sf workshop. A truly one of a kind property. $1,499,000 #3236
Meticulously Maintained Private Retreat
ARROYO GRANDE – Great floor plan in this warm and welcoming Spanish style home with vaulted, wood-beamed ceilings on nearly a 1/4 acre lot in a quiet cul-de-sac that is within walking distance to shopping, restaurants, and the ever popular Ocean View Elementary school. This 3 bedroom/2 1/2 bath home is just shy of 2600 sq ft with a lower family room that could easily be utilized as a 4th bedroom. Cement is still drying on the brand new stamped concrete driveway and the deck off the back offers a great view of the city. If all this isn’t enough then keep in mind that the beautiful Pacific Ocean is a mere 5 minute drive. Come see for yourself! $599,000 #3237
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Nestled between Terrace Hill & the Historic Railroad district on a large corner parcel, this home features 3 bedrooms + large study, 2.5 baths & over 2100 sq. ft. Large brick wood burning fireplace with built in seating, the kitchen is a chef’s dream, and the master suite is flooded with natural light & features 2 large closets & plantation shutters. The most amazing aspect of this property is that it offers multiple areas in which to retreat. One can chase the sun or find the shade but each location remains very private. This is a must see, it won’t last. $749,900 #3240
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Magnificent views of San
Luis Mt. and Bishop Peak. Custom home located on the back end of Laguna Lake. Come enjoy the wildlife and the beautiful flora from this 3 bedroom 3 bath home on a 19,000 sq foot lot. Den/ Library could be used as a 4th bedroom. Master suite on living level with additional bedrooms upstairs. Views from almost every window yet still amazing how much privacy you have. Open kitchen with breakfast room, island and an abundance of storage. Cathedral ceilings, easy living floorplan and an oversized 2-car garage. Move in ready so come experience this unique property. $865,000 #3234
The Little Gem You’ve Been Waiting For! AVILA BEACH – More upgrades than will fit into this space, complete remodel 1 year ago, all counters are granite, new kitchen cabinets, floors, walls, electrical upgrades, plumbing, new Kohler bathroom fixtures, new tiled showers, list goes on and on. Must see to appreciate. $775,000 #3238
SAN LUIS OBISPO – Owner-occupied for the last 40 years and lovingly maintained, this charming cottage has original hardwood floors and views of Bishop Peak. Featuring a freshly painted interior, remodeled bathroom and newer roof – this will make a great home! The spacious fenced yard offers endless possibilities, and has fig, citrus, and apricot trees. The location is great – just a block from the base of San Luis Mountain, close to downtown SLO and Cal Poly. $499,000 #3239
PASO ROBLES – Immaculate home on over
one acre with fantastic views and privacy! This home features 3 spacious bedrooms, 2 and a half baths, open living room, formal dining room, loads of natural light and a large yard. $450,000 #3219
For more information on these and other Real Estate Group of SLO listings call us at
805.541.2888
962 Mill Street • San Luis Obispo, California 93401 • www.RealEstateGroup.com
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Grenda Ernst
atascadero’s amazing angel By Deborah Cash
E
very community has its shining stars who, through their selfless and generous spirits, have made a difference not likely possible without them. In the north county colony of Atascadero, resident Grenda Ernst is that stellar someone and all who know her agree her hard work and dedication have enriched the lives of many.
Among numerous other endeavors, Grenda’s record of service includes her role as the president of the Friends of the Atascadero Library Board of Directors for the past seven years. In July, shortly after she presided over the Grand Opening ceremonies of the new Atascadero Library, she passed the mantle on to fellow board member Robert Alberti but will continue to serve as past president and, as is her custom, wherever she is needed, though she says her focus will probably shift from fundraising to membership now that the new facility is up and going. Grenda’s passion for the Library project reaches back a couple of decades. Her mother, Sarah Gronstrand, was a principle force in gathering momentum to bring a larger, more functional space for Atascadero library patrons into focus and eventually, reality. In fact, Grenda shared that when her mother moved to the area in the early 1980s, “she met people right away and made friends. She also noticed the library was too small and ‘not acceptable’ for a town this size. She joined the Friends of the Library and started raising money to correct that problem right away.” Grenda grew up in Chicago and Cleveland and moved to California during the eighth grade. She went to UC Riverside where she obtained her B.A. in English Literature and shortly thereafter began working in Long Beach as a social worker. “It was kind of a family thing,” she said, noting that her mother had also worked in that field. Subsequently earning her MSW (Master’s degree in social work) from Fresno State, Grenda and her husband William (Bill) Ernst moved to SLO in 1968 (Atascadero in 1972) where Bill had been hired as a Psychiatric Social Worker at Atascadero State Hospital; four years later he became Program Director. “It was really something to have that career level at such a young age,” she said, “We thought it might be temporary but as it turns out, we never left.” Grenda also began working at the Atascadero based facility serving as Chief of Social Work for eight years, Program Director for four years and then retired after three years in Clinical AdminBoard of Supervisors awarding proclamation to Friends of Atascadero Library for efforts in getting the new Library open.
istration where she was responsible for 24-hour clinical operations and supervision of staff. During those years, Grenda and Bill welcomed daughter Suzanne and son Joseph into their family. Grenda’s joy of talking about her family—particularly children and grandchildren—is another instance where her shine and sparkle truly come through. Happily, she recounts that her children were born in SLO and attended Atascadero High School where both graduated with honors. Grenda recalled wonderful memories of many family vacations and camping trips, especially to the mountains, Yosemite and Donner State Park near Truckee where they loved to ski cross-country. “To this day, our children, along with our grandkids Sarah and Ava, like to vacation with us. We are lucky to see our kids fairly often.” Grenda and Bill also enjoy their own travel time and she reflects that Italy, London and Spain are among some of their favorite places. Most people who know Grenda will attest to her culinary skills; as of late, her fondness is for Mexican food, especially recipes using dried New Mexican chiles. “I love to cook,” she said, “I’m a good cook and love making all kinds of food.” She says she also loves “to play around in my garden, read and go for walks,” though don’t think for a moment that her life is all that leisurely even though it might sound like it. Her affinity for her community, right up there with her top priority— her family—is evident in her words and actions. “This is my home.
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PEOPLE Family photo: Granddaughter Sarah, Grenda, Bill and daughter Suzanne
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The Library is a SLO county facility and in the case of the Atascadero branch, is also a shared project as some county offices occupy about a half of the upstairs level. While the bulk of the expansion activity is now a fait accompli, there remains some finalizing such as disposing of the former property and refocusing efforts on programs and operations. The mission of the Friends is to create awareness of Library programs and provide educational and cultural opportunities for Library patrons, so that makes perfect sense. All of this has been no small “feet”…or as new Board president Robert Alberti said, “I have big shoes to fill,” but fortunately he has a bright light from his shining predecessor to guide his way.
Fun facts about Grenda Parents were of Russian descent: Alexander (Sasha) and Sarah Gronstrand I’ve lived here longer than any other place in my life; I’m rooted here.” Grenda said she’d love to see the community develop an “identifiable downtown with shops that people want to visit.” She said she is gratified that the Library, fairly adjacent to the old town area, is part of developing that identity and a good anchor for future developments. “I’d like to see the town grow in ways that are ‘plan-ful’ and productive and reflect a coherent vision of the community.” Grenda’s witnessed a lot of growth and change over the past few decades, but it was the Library that commanded her focus, particularly after the many years of involvement by her mother Sarah. One of the study rooms in the Library is named after her mother who, sadly, passed in 1999. “After I retired, I took on some of the fundraising efforts to build an addition at the former location. Then, the opportunity to purchase the larger, already built facility came along and the expansion campaign for that was launched in 2009. “Supervisor Jim Patterson helped spark the concept,” she said, adding that board member Eileen O’Grady stepped up to chair the fundraising committee. From there, a number of activities ensued to make the project a reality including the wildly popular “Dancing With Our Stars” annual event that will be expanded this coming year from one night to two where guests enjoy a full dance revue, elegant evening of dining, silent auction, dancing and voting for their favorite performers. “It’s a social event that people really look forward to; it’s so much fun,” Grenda said, “and it puts the Library squarely in the forefront of people’s thinking.”
Assemblyman Katcho Achadjian presenting a recognition award to Grenda on the Library’s opening day.
Numerous awards and recognitions throughout her career including • Christine M. West Award, Outstanding Achievement in the Field of Forensics, The Forensic Mental Health Assn. of CA, 1996 • Social Worker of the Year, SLO Unit, 2001 • Dorothy F. Kirby Award, CA chapter of National Assn. of Social Workers, 2003 Member, Atascadero Branch Association of American University Women Recipient of Community Service Award 2012, Atascadero Chamber of Commerce
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an interview with
loren nicholson
La Vista – Sponsored by the San Luis Obispo Historical Society By Joan Sullivan
T
he first issue of La Vista was published June, 1958. A total of fourteen issues were published sporadically between 1968 and 1981. Each of the four volumes was numbered one through four. Five hundred copies were printed in Santa Maria. They sold for $1.50, and were so well received that 200 additional copies were printed.
Loren Nicholson was the creator, editor and full time administrator over the publication of La Vista. Before he and his wife Pat came to San Luis Obispo he worked for Sunset in the advertising department and business section for two years. He taught at Cal Poly for 20 years as a journalism professor. In an interview with Loren, June 2, 2014, he related that shortly after he and Pat moved to San Luis Obispo they joined the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society.
How did you come up with the idea to publish La Vista? “At this time the Society was doing very well. We were voted on to participate in the production of a newsletter. Louisiana Clayton Dart, the Museum Administrator, did the job for both of us,” he said. “Books came into the Museum as time went by that were about other parts of California. We had the notion it would be more fun for us to be of service to the Society if we could produce something in the form of a journal, but the cost of doing so was unsure and appeared expensive. However as time passed it occurred to us a small journal of about 50 pages might pay for itself and make other publications as desired. We had an opportunity to join Ian McMillan at an outdoor get together with members of his family in Shandon. We discussed the likelihood of being able to maintain the success of a publication. Financial success and support would open new opportunities for us to explore our historical place in California history. We found excellent support among this historically oriented family and they were immensely encouraging. “Louisiana Clayton Dart held some doubts. She envisioned herself doing it and taking on an extra job at the Museum. I told her I would provide a rough draft of a publication as inexpensively as possible and have something presentable. During the weeks ahead we used many of our evenings gathering possible stories and making rough drafts. Within a few weeks we took our copy to a Board meeting. To our pleasant and happy surprise the board responded wonderfully well, and Mrs. Dart was seeing for the first time a pasted rough draft. I personally wanted to be used in the first issue. We provided an opportunity to the Board to provide a story to put in the first publication and to bring back stories so we would have respectable material. A U G U S T
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The point of discussion of the first meeting was to suggest various names for the first publication that would in some way seem appropriate. Mrs. Dart was well versed in ideas and suggested we call it VISTA. At that time a Spanish teacher—Leonore Sebastian—at the High School, who was on the Board said to add the word LA. Our evening ended with everyone suggesting a vote. Everyone voted on LA VISTA.
How did you go about marketing the publication before it was in print? “We knew getting them to stores would be a hard job. I had to find the outlet for the books and make it clear to them we were not in a strong enough position to carry a large inventory and we would need to collect in advance in order to know how to order for the next issue. They were very supportive of the idea. “I began visiting local bookstores and had high hopes they would offer it for sale on behalf of the Society. I felt that if it were possible to offer the store a mark up on the book and it succeeded, that arrangements could make the publication in San Luis Obispo County a better customer in the purchase of books of a historic nature and would also tell the history of our county and benefit the store too. We were big readers ourselves. It was a way of life for us. I knew that nearly every bookseller had aspirations to own a small publishing company. We had moments of hesitation after consulting ourselves because we would suddenly realize they had to put out money simply because if would appeal to a lot of people for a book in which they were included and to give as Christmas presents. “I can’t tell you how many people told us they read the book and how happy they were to be in it. Everyone was in on the act. To entice retail stores to include La Vista book we set out to talk to everyone. It was a difficult task but we were getting acquainted and everyone was pleased we were calling on them to participate in a community event of this kind. “You’d be surprised how many books I sold at the Santa Barbara Historical Museum. We knew other Museums carried books. One by one we found other bookstores and places to sell the books. Then we called for people who wanted to buy books directly. Larger bookstores like in Santa Barbara had every book in California.
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move on to the second issue. You have to be optimistic about making ready for the next issue. If all the stores are running out of books, you should be ready to go to get more books out. You start with more than you might be able to sell. With a hot issue we printed more.
Can you recall any special issues? “This issue, Volume three, Number two, published in 1973, represented a kind of a summary of major contributions to local history and Elliot Curry’s 40 years as managing editor of the Tribune. Elliot Curry wrote a weekly column for the Tribune. He was an active historical writer. After 40 years as managing editor until March 30, 1973, he was preparing to retire. He knew we wanted to reprint a series of his columns in one issue of La Vista. He gave artifacts to Mrs. Dart for the Museum. Elliot Curry contributed in very important ways to the history of the people and artifacts of their time. Loren Nicholson and Historical Society Board Member, Jack San Filippo
How did you proceed to set up the layout? I first looked for a set of stories that would make a nice balance of interesting content. The editor’s job is to decide on what to include to make that decision. You have to have something compelling for the cover. I had seen covers I already liked. I looked for old pictures and I had a nice collection of old photos. I knew the first issue had to succeed. I was referring to it as a journal because it has a little more class and I knew some people would collect these and we had to decide whether to print additional copies of the first issue or to
In another issue, Volume 3, Number 3, published in 1973, Harold Miossi was a good writer and a good photographer and wanted information written in the way he approved of. He had an opinion about everything. Standing in front of his store on Broad Street, he talked to everyone. He learned I was a member of the San Luis Obispo County Historical Society and invited us to his ranch. He was reluctant. He was feisty.
or at historical society meetings. I’d pursue it. Sometimes people don’t appreciate what they have. I thought at times it would have been magic to live in those days. It was a great pleasure to put it out. I always wanted to reproduce books and have stories in print.
What was the most difficult thing? “The most difficult thing was meeting my own deadline. The deadline would catch up with me. The most difficult was assembling all the articles and photographs. Once it was established we were going to publish, Pat and I started collecting things from swap meets
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Guateca Project:
Pete Schwartz “work makes us close” By Natasha Dalton
U
ntil 2006, Pete Schwartz, a Professor at the Cal Poly College of Science and Mathematics, was focused on research in nanotechnology. But after a sabbatical with the Energy and Resources Group at Berkeley he switched from theoretical physics to sustainability. “I’ve always been passionate about sustainability (before the word existed) and innovation,” Schwartz says. “I do this as a physicist. Physics is a way of looking at the world as a toolbox that can help address challenges.” He recalls a transformative moment in his childhood when he watched his dad fix a bike. “It blew my mind,” he says. “I realized that everything could be understood and controlled.” Schwartz’s house, which he shares with his two children, Tekuru (10) and Neil (6), and his wife Robin, is a model of sustainability. And at Cal Poly, he teaches Physics and Applied Technologies (AT),—two classes that serve as perfect bookends to the scope of his current interests—with an emphasis on environment. In Intro Physics, half of the classes are on Energy. “My technical study is about ways to concentrate sunlight inexpensively,” Schwartz says. “But I’m mostly interested in people and society.” “It was a slow evolution for me to recognize that the technology isn’t the solution, and that it’s the human systems that are really important,” Schwartz explains. It was that recognition that brought to life a class modeled after MIT’s D-Lab, which encourages students to look for ways to improve quality of life for those living with less. “That AT class isn’t about things. It’s about development and poverty, and it’s a reflection on how we can live differently,” Schwartz says. “I once thought that energy was a very important thing, and the solution was fusion,” he adds, recalling two years he spent at the
“I’ve always been passionate about sustainability.” Princeton Plasma Physics Lab. But nowadays he dismisses the notion of physics being pivotal for society. “It would be neat for us to understand everything,” he says, “but I don’t think it’s going to change anything.” “Technology can be on the table,” Schwartz believes, but instead of waiting for it to fix the world’s problems, he emphasizes personal responsibility. “I teach transformation and adjustment. The real changes will come because of the information revolution, when we’ll realize that the others aren’t so different from us. Is this going to make people’s lives better?—“It really could,” Schwartz insists. There’re still people out there who’d kill because they’re fans of a different sports team, but the number of those who want to work for the common good is larger. According to Schwartz, there was never a more urgent time for the question: “What kind of a life do I want to live?” His answer resonates with Mahatma Gandhi’s “be the change you want to see.” The Guateca Project became an extension of this philosophy, and it came to life out of embarrassment about teaching a class on poverty in a Cal Poly classroom.
Natural Insulation A U G U S T
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“We know from reading Paul Polack that the poverty-stricken people
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While many villages in Guatemala don’t even have schools, San Pablo’s school system is so well-run that the daughter of the local minister of education chose to study there. “A lot of the people who graduate from this school go to college,” Schwartz says. “And they have an interesting college set-up, where you spend just one day a week: all day on Friday or Saturday.” Two hours on a bus each way, and three sessions of classes, each three hours long, make for a long day, but this arrangement allows students to work with their parents on the farm and not worry about renting a place in town. It also makes it possible for them to participate in the Guateca, whose whole premise is built on students’ collaboration. “Guateca isn’t your typical Study Abroad program,” Schwartz explains. “It’s not like studying Catalan at a university in Barcelona. It’s something between that and parachuting into Amazon.” A Group of Farmers
have the answers, we just need to engage with them,” Schwartz says. To do that, he teamed up with a sociologist from Guatemala, Luz Marina Delgado. “Like Siddhartha who grew up in a castle, I grew up in a real quintessential suburban town, and I didn’t know anybody of a different race or religion,” Schwartz says about growing up in Buffalo, NY. Only during his high school senior year, when he studied in Austria, did he discover that the world was full of problems. Feeling a little angry at his parents for sheltering him from the realities of life, Schwartz joined the Peace Corps and spent some time teaching high school: first in Fiji, then in Bakersfield, CA. As for Delgado, she—in spite of being of aristocratic descent—had been active in the grassroots women’s empowerment movement for years. The two hit it off right from the start. Delgado helped Schwartz find the perfect location for his Guateca Project: San Pablo, a village of 1000 people high in the San Marcos Mountains. The program began in December of 2010, when 12 students from Cal Poly spent 2 weeks in the village. “The summers of 2011 and 2012, I ran a program with 15 and 9 students from Cal Poly, respectively. We had about an equal number of Guatemalan students as well,” Schwartz explains. He still remembers the sense of awe he felt when he first entered San Pablo. “It felt as if you could hear violins, or something else equally amazing,” he says. The village is very clean and nicely organized.
“When I started the AT classes, I thought I knew much more than I think I know now,” he says, appealing to his students not to get discouraged because they couldn’t make things work. “I say, ‘you’re frustrated that you cannot fix poverty in 8 weeks? World Bank has been doing this for years, and has only a few examples that worked.’” “The illusion is that I teach these classes. In reality we’re all learning there,” Schwartz says. “They aren’t broken. Nor do we necessarily work the way we could. Their emission per person is 1/20th of ours. It’s their model of efficiency that I want to study.” There was a time when Schwartz himself thought that we could fix them and solve their poverty problem. But today, he cringes when people compliment him on helping the poor. “The poor understand their challenges better than anyone else,” he insists, “and if there’s any progress to be made, we’ll have to make it together.” “I’m very enthusiastic about the things I teach,” Schwartz says. “The method that has been most successful for me is co-exploration— when we’re all learning together. I’m not as good at doing this with physics classes, probably because I think that I already know it.” “I love what I do,” Schwartz adds. “I like to learn, to innovate, to teach, to be with my family. I think that I’m most happy when I’m working with my students or with my family. The people in San Pablo work almost constantly. Studies claim they’re the happiest people in the Americas. I don’t think this is a coincidence. It’s obvious that work and working together creates happiness. While we’re sitting here thinking, ‘How can we play more effectively to be happier?’ they do what needs to be done. When they get together, and uncles are painting and women are cooking, and everyone is there—you cannot have it better than that.” Adjustment and transformation are appropriate terms for a philosophy behind the program that continues to develop. While Schwartz and Cal Poly’s Global Programs’ Supervisor Jennifer O’Brien worked on finalizing its formal syllabus, trips to Guatemala were put on hold. The process took two years and wasn’t always smooth, according to Schwartz, who had to abandon his original model. But in the end, “it worked out great for everyone,” he says. Now Guateca is back on track and is offered to the students for the upcoming academic year. At the end of the previous trip, when villagers were discussing the results of their collective efforts, one of the students jumped in before Schwartz to talk about Energy. Schwartz was impressed: “He wasn’t even the best student,” he says, and yet, he is now teaching Energy classes in the village.” And it’s the best proof that program is working.
School Girls
For more, check out http://physics.calpoly.edu/node/94 A U G U S T
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Teah Anders Click’n connect By Ruth Starr
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n her first date with her husband, Chuck, Teah told him she was planning to move to California. He surprised her by saying he would be open to moving too. In 1997 she left a 21-year career with the Salt River Project in Phoenix, Arizona where she was an Environmental Analyst. Her job was to ensure the company was in alignment with wildlife protection under state and federal laws. Teah had always wanted to live near the coast. Following their first year of marriage, she and Chuck determined where they would settle in California by putting data into their computer. They came up with six communities in California. They began their journey by visiting Santa Rosa and ended it in Santa Barbara. When they drove into San Luis Obispo they turned to each other and at the same time said “this is it!” After about a year trying a variety of jobs, Teah decided she wanted to do something more satisfying. She took some time off to determine
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what she would do next. She loved going to the beach. She noticed people were often yelling and pulling their dogs around. As an amateur dog trainer for about ten years, Teah had always wanted to do it professionally. She was puzzled that people here didn’t seem to know about positive dog training. An “aha” moment happened for her and a decision was made to begin training dogs. Friends encouraged her to start her dog training business. In 1999 Teah began training dogs professionally in Arroyo Grande. Her method of training—positive reinforcement and clicker training—is a direct and easy way to communicate with dogs. They understand more readily what is being asked of them. Teah uses a clicker to mark the behavior of the dog. She tells the dog to sit and then clicks and gives the treat. The clicker is just a training tool which is not necessary to use after the dog gets trained.
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3, who does nose work, a Spanish Water Dog/German Short Hair Pointer age 5, a Chinese Crested Powder Puff age 8, and an Aussie Corgi mix (from the streets of Mexico) age 12. There was a cat on the property when they moved in who recently passed away after 17 years. They also have four llamas and two goats. They live on five acres where they built a barn specifically to be used as a training center. People who experience Teah’s dog training are always happy when they leave—they have better behaved dogs. Teah is delighted to be a part of this transformation and is grateful to be doing what she loves. Information about Gentle Touch Pet Training can be found on her website www.clicknconnect.com.
Since her business started, Teah has successfully taught thousands of people the clicker training method. She is a Certified Professional Dog Trainer through the Certification Council for Professional Dog Trainers and is a professional member of the Association of Pet Dog Trainers (APDT). She is a Certified Nose Work Instructor through the National Association of Canine Scent Work. Teah has also earned a CAP2 (Competency Assessment Program – Level 2) certification through Kay Laurence’s Learning About Dogs organization in the UK. She has been a Canine Good Citizen (CGC) Evaluator through the American Kennel Club for many years. In 2008, Teah published a comprehensive dog training book entitled, Click ‘n Connect: Training Your Dog a Lifelong Journey. Often extending herself to the community, she and her dog Hally, certified through Therapy Dogs International, had fun cheering folks up in visits to elderly care facilities. Gentle Touch has classes and workshops to teach dogs and their owners to become therapy dogs to go to Nursing Homes and Hospitals. This is currently an eight-week class. Teah and her staff at Gentle Touch Pet Training teach puppy classes, puppy enrichment for teenage dogs, elementary classes—basic training for any age, and intermediate classes—which earns canine good citizen through AKC American Kennel Club. The evaluation shows that the dogs have good manners in public. Her favorite is teaching a whole series of classes on nose work. It’s a detection sport to teach dogs to sniff out specific odors. Dogs use 60% of their brain for scenting and interpreting scent. It is a fun way to work out and play for dogs. There is a National Organization of Canine Scent Work. People come from all over the country to participate in competitions held locally. Gentle Touch also teaches agility, which is a very popular sport for dogs. Mostly it includes going through obstacles and learning how to navigate the course. Through the Santa Barbara Animal Foundation, Teah does pro bono presentations at Camp Hope in Santa Maria. She also has done presentations at Woods Critter Camp. Through the years, volunteering her time at Animal Services and Woods in SLO, as well as for The Humane Society in Santa Maria has been a joy for her. She has spent twelve years helping train volunteers working with the organizations in SLO County. In addition to Teah and Chuck, six dogs reside in their home. A baby Pug 6 months old, a rescue Pug age 5, an English Cocker Spaniel age A U G U S T
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barry lewis The SLO Law Library By Heather Young
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arry Lewis is the librarian of the 2,600-square-foot law library that sits in the basement of the County Government Center in San Luis Obispo. He is the keeper of 14,000 volumes of law reference books and manages an annual budget of $250,000—which includes his salary and the salary of the legal assistant. Lewis went to library school and his legal assistant, Joe Kalet, is going to law school. Lewis got his Bachelor of Arts from California State University Northridge and his master’s degree in library and information science from San Jose State University. Before going to work for the law library in 2005, Lewis worked for the SLO City-County Library from 1997 to 2005. At the law library, Lewis is a county contract worker, not a county employee. Lewis moved to SLO in 1997 from Thousand Oaks because he wanted to live in a small town. Here, he bicycles to work every day and does photography as a hobby. His photographs adorn the walls of the law library. Part of what directed him into being a librarian was how much time he was spending in the library. He also loves doing research, such as genealogy. The library’s budget, Lewis said, comes from the fees people pay to file civil suits. “You are paying for your own resource,” Lewis said, adding that many people don’t even know they have access to the library. “A place for people to help themselves.” With the ever-changing nature of the law, Lewis subscribes to law-related databases and is constantly updating the other reference books. While patrons must go to the law library to utilize the databases, they can email what they find to themselves. For the books, attorneys are free to check out them out, but others must put down a hefty deposit. Lewis said that the library is transitioning to a more electronic library rather than mostly hard copies, because “it’s more difficult to maintain.” Law libraries in California go back to 1891, when the California state legislature enacted a statute that mandated a public law library be
Barry Lewis inside the SLO Law Library
located in each California county. Before that, San Francisco and San Jose already had established law libraries. The collection at the SLO Law Library includes California and federal statutes, codes, regulations and cases, practice materials and research references, the SLO County Ordinance Codes, and municipal codes for the cities, towns and communities within SLO County. It also offers CEB print and audio materials for MCLE. Free online access is available for LexisNexis Shepard’s Citation, CEB OnLAW, Westlaw and Xspouse. The mission of the law library is to “provide access to legal materials to all persons interested in the law.” The library also has self-serve copies, which are 15 cents per page; microfiche reader/printer, no charge to use the reader, but there is a 20 cents per page charge for copies; electronic typewriters at no charge; computers with Internet access and word processing capabilities for legal research only, printing is 25 cents per page; and wireless Internet access is available for free. Lewis said that most of the people who use the library are “pro-pers,” people representing themselves, not using an attorney. He said the ratio is 2:1 for people to attorneys. The law library is designed to assist attorneys, judges, law students, the general public and anyone else who needs to do law research. “[You can] save a lot of money; one of the things you have to do is dedicate time,” Lewis said. The library averages 10 visitors a day. In 2013, there were 4,000 patrons and 2,000 attorneys. “The people who come here, come here for a reason,” Lewis said. “We don’t have a lot of people who come here to hang out.” Lewis said the library is classified as a “legal resource center.” Clinics are held at the library and Lewis and Kalet refer those with legal questions to other resources. “We cannot give legal advice,” Lewis said. He said that the job is interesting because he never knows what’s going to come to the desk each day. The SLO Law Library is the only one in the county, though opening one in Paso Robles has been considered. However, due to a decrease of filing fees, Lewis’ budget is shrinking.
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The law library is located at 1050 Monterey St., Room 125 in SLO. It is accessible from Monterey Street in the basement. For more information, call 781-5855 or go to www.slocll.org. The library is open Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. The library is closed on Sundays.
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Call to the colors “Remember”
From the latin rememorari meaning “call to mind” It’s what we do.
the jacket By Harry Hoover, Sandra McGregor, Gail Pruitt
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ince the Central Coast Veterans Memorial Museum was founded in 2002, our mission has been to honor all veterans, past and present, and to tell their stories. We’ve heard tales of bravery, sagas of sacrifice, stories that made us chuckle and those that brought tears to our eyes. Here is one such story about the daughter of a Marine veteran who came to the Museum for assistance with properly displaying her father’s ribbons and left with her father’s original Marine jacket which she believed was lost forever. On May 29, 2014, Arroyo Grande resident, Ms. Sally Woelper, came to the Museum to ask for assistance in correctly arranging the World War II ribbons and medals of her late father, Arthur F. Corwin, for display at the private memorial service his family was organizing. Mr. Corwin enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1942 and after his training as an airplane propeller specialist, joined Marine Transport Squadron
Ms. Sally Woelper with her father’s picture... and his original jacket.
and his later association with the First Marine Division and their annual reunions at the Tar Springs Ranch in Arroyo Grande. Tar Springs Ranch was owned by John Loomis, who also served in the Marine Corps in WWII and fought on Guadalcanal. Twelve or so of the buildings, part of the original Village of Arroyo Grande, were moved and reassembled at the Ranch. They formed the center for those reunions. For more than thirty years, during Presidents’ Week in February, John Loomis opened the ranch to Marines and their families who often spent the entire week there. Many of those Marines donated their uniforms and memorabilia for displays and for ceremonies. Over the years, several hundred such items were collected and stored in one of the old buildings. Arthur Corwin’s Marine Corps jacket was one of those items. When John Loomis passed away in 2003, his wife Lindy generously donated most of the uniforms and equipment to the Museum. Unfortunately very few of the uniforms were salvageable due to inadequate storage conditions. Meanwhile, back at the Museum, Ms. Woelper mentioned that she wished she still had her father’s uniforms. Harry Hoover, a former Marine who attended fourteen of the Tar Ranch reunions, asked Assistant Archivist Tim Rathbone, to pick out several WWII Marine jackets from Museum storage. One would be chosen to loan to Ms. Woelper for her father’s memorial service so she could display his ribbons. While Dennis Enos organized the ribbons, Harry was checking the condition of the jackets. That’s when Harry saw that one of them had a gunny’s chevrons and a Marine Air Wing patch matching Mr. Corwin’s service records. When Harry opened one sleeve of the jacket he saw the date of manufacture was 1942, the same year Mr. Corwin enlisted. When Harry opened the other sleeve, where Marines mark their uniforms, there was the name of Ms. Woelper’s father, Arthur Corwin, and his serial number! That was the very same jacket Mr. Corwin had donated years ago at a Loomis Marine reunion and one of the very few that had survived. When Harry showed it to Ms. Woelper, many tears were shed over this amazing revelation. The Museum staff is highly honored to have been able to assist Ms. Woelper and to restore to her and her family a piece of their history. This reaffirms why the Museum exists. We are in the business of remembering.
(L-R) Devin McCormick, William Rizzoli, Tyler Hart, Erik Kardel, Vincent Tibbles, Cooper Lock and Brian Sackett
VMR 353. He was deployed to Kwajalein, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. Mr. Corwin was very proud of being a Marine and rose to the rank of Technical Sergeant. He was a long-time member of Marine Corps League Detachment 680 and has a bronze plaque on the Museum’s Wall of Honor (pictured above). Ms. Woelper showed the Museum’s Director Harry Hoover and Dennis Enos, Assistant Curator, boxes of letters and photographs and told them about her father’s time in the Marine Corps A U G U S T
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Meet the Museum’s Student Docents In addition to our talented staff of Adult Docents, the Museum is also very proud of our contingent of seven Student Docents. Six of these enthusiastic young men attend local high schools; the seventh has just received a Masters degree from Cal Poly. Although they came to the Museum to fulfill their schools’ community service requirements, all decided to stay on longer because
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of their interest in history, belief in the Museum’s mission, and their camaraderie. Of the seven, Brian Sackett, the recent Cal Poly graduate, has been at the Museum longest, having first volunteered in 2008. Brian volunteered to honor our nation’s veterans and to give back to the country. Now that he has received his degree in Fire Protection Engineering, he plans to become an officer in the United States Air Force. It has been fascinating to watch the remaining six Student Docents change from middle school boys into young men in high school. Vincent Tibbles, who will be a sophomore at San Luis Obispo High in the fall, has been at the Museum since April, 2011. Vince has an amazing grasp of military history; after graduation he plans to enlist in the Marine Corps and perhaps later work as a security officer with the CIA. Three more in the group started at the Museum in September, 2011; Tyler Hart and William Rizzoli will be sophomores at Mission College Prep, and Cooper Lock will be a sophomore at Central Coast New Tech High. In the future, Tyler plans to study international relations or politics and go on to the Armed Forces or work for a humanitarian organization. Cooper plans to work toward getting into the US Naval Academy and later to receive a commission in the Marine Corps. William decided to stay at the Museum because of his fascination with history, especially military history. Erik Kardel, who began his service at the Museum in June, 2012, will be a junior at San Luis High in the fall, and Devin McCormick, who started at the same time, will be a sophomore at Atascadero High. Besides his work at the Museum, Devin also volunteers at the Special Olympics and at local residential care facilities. Erik hopes to attend the Naval Academy. All the Student Docents except for one have also joined the Sea Cadets, a United States Navy-based organization that teaches young people about Naval operations and training, community service, discipline, and teamwork. We are very proud to have these inspiring Student Docents on our staff and we are eager to see what their futures hold.
POW/ MIA Recognition Day To honor National POW/MIA Recognition Day on September 19th, the Museum will open a special exhibit at the History Center of San Luis Obispo County. In additional to a “White Table of Remembrance,” the exhibit will feature rosters of the names of U.S. POWs and MIAs from California since the Korean War. The exhibit will open September 1st and run through November 30th. The History Center offers community groups, such as the Museum, the use of a designated area within the History Center to present special exhibits. We want to thank the staff of the History Center for allowing the Museum to participate in this program. The History Center is located at 696 Monterey Street, San Luis Obispo (near the Mission plaza). It is open Wednesday through Monday from 10am to 4pm (closed Tuesdays and major holidays). Admission is free and donations are welcome.
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lance kinney changing the world, one picture at a time By Susan Stewart
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n the Guatemalan highland village of Solala, a little boy (not more than 8) tosses a bright red ball into the sky, each effort yielding ever higher throws. Surrounded by the brightly colored tombs of the cematario where his father is buried, the boy is unaware of the American photographer watching him, framing him, snapping shot after shot—aiming for the perfect image. Eventually, the American approaches the boy and asks him why he plays in a graveyard. “My father and I used to do this together,” he explains in Spanish. “To see who could throw the ball higher. He always won.” When his father died, the little boy’s mother told him he’d gone to heaven up in the sky. Now he comes here every day. “I am trying to throw the ball up to my father,” he says. “I want him to throw the ball again. I want my Papa.” Stunned by both the beauty of the land—with its majestic volcanoes and shining lakes—and the poignant story he’d heard from the boy, Lance Kinney resolved to put his camera down for a while. “I realized that with the thousands of shots firmly locked away digitally,” Kinney said, “I had been trying to throw the ball one last time, hoping to throw it the highest I had ever thrown it, to get that one image.”
Naomi and Lance Kinney
Under much different circumstances from his ball-tossing amigo, Lance Kinney was born in San Pedro and raised in nearby Palos Verdes. “I was born in the water,” he jokes, recalling an idyllic childhood spent largely in the ocean—surfing, swimming, diving, fishing— during the endless summers of Southern California. Lance was the middle child of three born to Dwight and Florence Kinney; Dwight was an engineer at Hughes Aircraft, and Florence was a dedicated wife and mother as well an active community volunteer. At the tender age of 11, Lance was deeply affected by his mother’s work with what was then called The Spastic Children’s League (now more appropriately called cerebral palsy). “I felt so sad for the kids who couldn’t do what I could do,” he explains. So he organized and ran an all-day charity event in his neighborhood to raise money for the League. That early
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Balm Ridge, Avila Hills
effort set the stage for what would become a lifelong resolve to give back. Today, some 50 years later, Lance Kinney gives back in a myriad ways to a world less privileged than his.
to explore the ruggedly spectacular coasts of Monterey and Big Sur. Bell, he said, taught him a great deal about photography, paving the way for a truly inspired second career.
Bright, and motivated to achieve, Lance graduated a year early from high school, and went off to Europe—a borrowed camera in hand. Across the landscapes of Scandinavia, the British Isles, Germany, Italy, and Greece, he saw the world—for the first time— through the eyes of a camera lens. “It’s a very different view!” he exclaims. On his return, Lance and a childhood friend, Richard Bell, moved to Carmel to share an apartment and
Second? Lance’s first career began in 1978 when he became a professional contractor, a job he held until 2010. For more than three decades, Lance Kinney Construction was responsible for remodeling numerous inns and hotels across Carmel, Monterey, and San Luis Obispo Counties, as well as hundreds of private home remodels. It was in this capacity that he ran into Phil Ortiz, the founder of I Care International— a nonprofit organization dedicated to bringing the gift of vision to thousands of impoverished children in Latin America.
Lance and his granddaughter, Maddex Meridia Marie.
Lance made the transition from contractor to photographer. Gay Ortiz (Phil’s wife) was a guest at his first gallery show in Cambria and she stopped to chat with Lance about his work.
Having raised two daughters, Melanie and Maegan (now both in their 30s), Lance and his wife Naomi moved to our area in 1999. They built their dream house in Avila Beach and La Pelota Roja, Village of Solala, Guatemala.
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azines and newspapers, yet they are so impoverished that a camera is never even considered,” Lance explains. “Their world has always been shown to them by others … would it not be cool to see their own personal world through their eyes?” So Lance is asking us to donate our old, compact digital cameras to his Mi Camera Mi Mundo project. The self-esteem gained from learning to use a camera and interpret their world through images, Lance explains, is a very powerful thing.
Avila Beach
Impossible to describe with words, the breadth and variety (not to mention the beauty and emotionally rich quality) of Kinney’s work is best viewed on his website. www.lancekinney.com or on his Facebook page. From frolicking sea otters to whimsical wedding shots; from breathtaking land- and seascapes to the textured face-scapes of the people (old and young alike) of Latin America—Kinney’s work is mesmerizing.
Soon, Lance had agreed not only to remodel the Ortiz home, but also to get involved in some way with I Care International. Today, dozens of trips and thousands of photographs later, I Care International is celebrating its 25th anniversary. And Lance is at the forefront of the 10th annual fundraising benefit to be held this month. (Please see sidebar for details) In addition to his role as chief photographer for I Care Int’l (hundreds of emotionally moving photos of children and adults receiving eye care and glasses across the globe), Lance also teaches photography to 4th graders, conducts workshops locally and internationally, and runs the Lance Kinney Photographic Gallery at Pismo Beach. He has been chief photographer for the Monterey and Berkeley Jazz Festivals, the Point San Luis Lighthouse (he also serves on their Board of Directors), and the Central Coast Aquarium (he donates his time). But perhaps the nearest to his heart is an offshoot of I Care Int’l—a program he founded, called Mi Camera, Mi Mundo, or My Camera, My World. “All their lives, [poor children] have seen images of the world in mag-
An old photography teacher and mentor of Kinney’s once said: “Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.” In the spirit of his small friend in the cemetery, Lance Kinney continues to throw his brightly colored ball ever higher, seeking yet another perfect image that might make a difference—that might just change the world—one picture at a time, one life at a time.
Unite for Sight, the 10th Annual Benefit Fundraiser for I Care International August 16, 2014 from 6:00 to 9:00 pm Avila Bay Athletic Club and Spa
Featuring Dinner, Wine, a Silent Auction and Dancing With tropical Brazilian guitarist Jon Stephen $60 per person; $100 per couple.
Call 805-788-0423 for tickets and reservations.
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SAN LUIS OBISPO SYMPHONY MICHAEL NOWAK, MUSIC DIRECTOR
LA BO R DAY WEEKEN D
SUNDAY, AUGUST 31, 2014 AVILA BEACH GOLF RESORT
GATES OPEN 2:30PM 路 CONCERT AT 4PM
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JIM & BEVERLY SMITH
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at the market
Quesadillas with Calabacitas con Elote (Zucchini and corn) By Sarah Hedger
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t doesn’t take much to realize the abundance surrounding us here on the Central Coast—especially in the month of August! Tomatoes hit their seasonal high, as well as zucchini, corn, peppers, tomatillos, berries, basil, garlic, potatoes, and the thirst-quenching melon family, including cantaloupe, watermelon, and honeydew. The sky really is the limit as far as the variety we have to choose from. The added bonus being, the more local and better grown the ingredients, the better tasting and less prep and easier they are to enjoy in their most simple, beautiful state. A just-picked tomato has the potential to take nearly anyone to their happy place and little flaky sea salt sprinkled on a freshly picked zucchini does the same. Summer is glorious! As lucky as we are to have amazing farmers’ markets to visit around the county, we are also lucky to be witnessing more and more farm stands, offering fresh goodness directly from the
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source. Farm stands are special in that they usually offer what is fresh on the day, reflecting what’s grown on that farm in particular. It is the next best thing to doing it yourself and, some may argue it can even be better as those who tend their farms and roadside farm stands are usually pretty amazing farmers in their own right. One example of beautiful seasonal abundance is Templeton Valley Farms, now with two roadside farm stands (one is even constructed from straw bale!), offering fresh organic fruits, vegetables, flowers, eggs, and honey. Local couple Trina Baumsteiger and Edwin Rambuski operate the farms in Templeton, doing an amazing job growing a variety of deliciousness in a sustainable way...stewards to the land and their beautiful produce reflects the care they take in nourishing the soil which in turn creates healthy, vibrant fruits and vegetables. Examples of the variety coming out of their farm in August (and offered at their roadside farm stands) include Yukon Gold Potatoes, Sweet Corn, Sangre Potatoes, and Sugar Baby Watermelons just to name a few special items. Their website (templetonvalleyfarms.com) and Facebook (Templeton Valley Farms) reflect the bountiful offering of what is in season— coming directly from their farm, only meters away. It doesn’t get much fresher than that! This month’s recipe, Quesadillas with Calabacitas con Elote (zucchini and corn) was inspired from my favorite Mex spot in Santa Barbara, La Superica, and includes a collection of summer vegetables, bringing it all together in a filling for quesadillas, which can be cooked indoors or outside on the BBQ. The filling or base recipe, can also be used for stuffing peppers to grill, or as a side to a good grilled steak, or on its own for a light lunch or dinner, sprinkled with some toasted pepitas. It really combines some of my favorite ingredients, allowing each to shine through as they are cooked minimally. There is an abundance of cumin in the recipe as it is one of my favorite ingredients. I still to this day remember the first time I ever smelled cumin with my parents. I was prob-
Quesadillas with calabacItas con elote (Zucchini with corn) Makes 4+ Corn Quesadillas ½ pound fresh Yukon gold potatoes, scrubbed clean and chopped into ½ inch pieces 1 tsp dried cumin seeds 1 T olive oil 1 onion, finely chopped 2 garlic cloves, finely minced 1 tsp ground dried cumin ably only about 6 or 7 and all I knew was that it warmed the house with its inviting smell and I simply wanted more. Calabacitas con Elote can be as spicy, or with as much heat as you want, as you can add the fresh pepper and pickled jalapeno if you like it on the warm side. It is easy to prepare, goes together quickly, and will hopefully get you out on a fun scavenger hunt of the amazing roadside farm stands on offer in our backyard (not literally, but close). Enjoy, and warm August greetings!
*Optional for heat/spice- ½ red jalapeno or serrano pepper, seeded and finely chopped 2 ears of fresh sweet corn, shucked 2-3 small zucchini 3 good tomatoes, chopped into 1cm pieces 1 cup good quality jack cheese or queso quesadilla, grated 8 corn tortillas 2 T olive oil or butter *Optional, minced pickled jalapenos Pinch of fine sea salt (or kosher salt)
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Place potatoes in medium pot and cover with a couple inches of cold water. Bring to boil, reduce heat to simmer for about 15 minutes. Pierce with knife as they should be firm but not disintegrating. Place in colander and drain thoroughly. Place a large cast iron or heavy duty pan over high heat. Place cumin seeds and dry toast until fragrant (about a minute). Remove and set aside in small bowl. Return pan to medium high heat and place olive oil, onion, and garlic. Saute until translucent and add cumin/s, corn, and zucchini, cooking for a few minutes, before adding tomatoes, cooking for another couple minutes or until tomatoes are slightly broken down. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Place a large skillet or griddle (this can be done on a BBQ as well) over high heat. Place a corn tortilla in skillet, spooning about ¼ cup of zucchini corn mixture on tortilla, followed by a ¼ cup grated cheese. Place second tortilla on top, gently pressing down. When the bottom side of tortilla is turning golden, gently flip so top tortilla can cook, further melting the cheese. Brush a little olive oil on top tortilla and sprinkle with salt. Remove from skillet and cut into half or quarters. Top with sour cream (or crema) and freshly chopped cilantro if desired. Repeat with remaining tortillas and filling. Find this recipe and more seasonal inspiration at http://www. seasonalalchemist.com
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HOME/OUTDOOR
Coastal Community Builders
Gary Grossman ...using LEGos to lend a leg-up By Susan Stewart
W
hat is it with these people who know exactly what they want to be when they grow up … at age 5!? Take, for example, the kid who gets a “My First Chemistry” set for his 6th birthday and grows up to invent a lifesaving vaccination. Or the little girl who expertly laces up her sister’s far-too-big toe shoes and becomes a world-famous ballerina. Or how about the 5-year-old boy who builds houses and towns with his first set of LEGOs® and grows up to be a successful developer. That last one would be Gary Grossman—owner of Coastal Community Builders (CCB) and builder of thousands of homes, plus numerous commercial and medical centers. This year, Grossman will end the decades-long controversy over San Luis Ranch (formerly the Dalidio property) and break ground on a project that he hopes will satisfy the diverse needs and values of our community. How does that happen? Well, according to Grossman, it starts with great parents. Gary Grossman was born and raised in L.A. County’s San Fernando Valley and neighboring Palos Verdes. He was one of four children born to parents he calls “opposites.” His father, Ernest Grossman, was an attorney—a man Gary describes as a practical intellectual. Ernest later became a shopping center developer; and in his retirement, a music festival director. His mother Adele was a political and environmental activist, an adventurist who loved to travel and who taught her children to question what they did not understand, and to act on their beliefs. Which helps to explain Grossman’s seemingly disparate educational path. He enrolled at UCLA in 1982 where he majored in … wait for it: Literature. Why? Because he knew that in order to succeed he would need to know how to write well. Smart man. He graduated in 1986 with the thought that perhaps he should become a lawyer. But an influential teacher, Professor Rowland, told him, “Do what you want! There are already too many lawyers.” So Grossman next attended USC in the field of his childhood dreams: Urban and Regional Planning and Finance. He earned his master’s in 1988. Gary, his brother Tom, his mother Adele McGee and his late stepfather, Roger McGee.
Gary Grossman at the San Luis Ranch house.
That year, Grossman moved to our county to work for a family friend, intending to stay just one or two years to see the project through to completion. But like so many, he fell in love with the Central Coast and has never looked back. With our oceans and mountains, wineries, culture, and sublime quality of life—“I’ve traveled all over the world,” he says, “and have yet to find a place I like better. Why live anywhere else?” In line with the caring and compassion that characterizes our county as much as its beauty, Grossman’s company, Coastal Community Builders, has a contributive quality inherent in its mission. “We must give back and preserve what makes the Central Coast so special,” he says. “Our team of more than 70 people is motivated, educated, and tech-savvy. … constantly researching the latest trends and preferences to ensure we build the best and most affordable homes in our area.” His team members live in the communities they build, he explains, so they’re very much engaged in the activities and organizations that benefit them. Not a fan of Measure J (the development proposal project for this 131-acre property voted on in 2006), Grossman plans to include more of what he thinks is important to San Luis Obispo residents—open space, hiking trails, bike paths, traffic congestion reduction, and the alleviation of the disparity between income and housing costs here. Recently, he invited the public to give their input on what is now called the San Luis Ranch project and he was pleased with the results.
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office space, with 50% reserved for agriculture and open space. According to a recent Tribune article, “Walking paths, pocket parks and trails will connect the neighborhoods … as many as 500 single-family homes designed to be affordable rather than luxurious will serve as the core of the predominantly residential project.” These houses will give many local residents the leg-up they need to enter the housing market. Grossman said he is honored to be involved with San Luis Ranch. “When we heard it was for sale, a group of friends and I thought this project would be better led by local people who have the unique position of understanding what the needs and wants of the SLO community are,” he explained. “We are very proud to be stewards of this beautiful property.” Gary at the proposed San Luis Ranch development project site
“Some viewpoints were expected,” he said. “Some were not. It was gratifying to see the turnout and the enthusiasm with which people presented their ideas. Our coming here is a sincere process. I want to know what residents have to say.” The CCB proposal changes the former plan from an all-commercial one to a plan that includes entry level housing, a small retail and
But the ranch is not the only project on Grossman’s horizon. It is, in fact, just one of 22 others upcoming here and in Santa Barbara County. A local presence for a quarter of a century, Gary Grossman is here to stay. “Our company is a family,” he says. “We love our community and look forward to serving it for generations to come. Stay tuned!” he finishes, with a provocative smile—the kind of smile a 5-year-old kid has when he sits on the floor with his LEGOs and imagines the houses he’ll build with them.
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COMMUNITY
Our Schools what works, and what doesn’t
By Dr. Julian Crocker, County Superintendent of Schools
“The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves, that we are underlings.” Julius Caesar (William Shakespeare) Last month I wrote about a recent Los Angeles Superior Court decision (Vergara v. State of California) that basically declared much of the current teacher evaluation and teacher permanency (“tenure”) state statutes as unconstitutional. The Court ruled that five of the laws governing teacher evaluation are unconstitutional primarily because the system places the protection and due process rights of teachers above the right of students, specifically low income students and English language learners, to be taught by an effective teacher. In simple terms, the Court ruled that the system is too cumbersome, time consuming and costly to work effectively. This month I would like to put that decision in perspective with an emphasis on what works to support effective teaching.
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It is probably human nature to blame the “system” when things go wrong. That’s what Cassius was warning Brutus about in Julius Caesar. There is plenty of evidence that the teacher evaluation system in our state has gone wrong. However, as Cassius told Brutus, the fault (and the solution) is in us. We can re-work the process and the system and the legal requirements all we want, but unless we have school administrators who are true instructional leaders with the courage to use whatever system is in place to confront ineffective teaching, blaming the stars, or the “law,” will not help. I think we have these leaders in our county. This ruling, and subsequent appeal which will be filed, as well as any eventual legislation will focus on changing the laws, policies, and rules governing teacher evaluation. I strongly agree that much needs to be changed in the system. However, as Catherine Rampell (Commentary in July 15th Tribune) points out, reforming the state’s teacher evaluation system will not narrow the achievement gap for the students mentioned above. It is only effective teachers, lots of them, who can narrow the achievement gap, and dismissing ineffective teachers does nothing to build effective teachers. This is not a system problem, it is a human problem. It is a human problem because we know with some certainty what does work to support and build effective teachers and we, all of us, need to do it. What works is a constellation of actions known to make a difference from both research and from experience. These actions include: 1. A clear rubric (description) for effective teaching. An observable series of teaching behaviors that are known to produce student learning. 2. Frequent coaching from both principals and peers, based on classroom observations. Regular classroom observations and gathering of observable data, based on the rubric, that is then shared in a nonevaluative mode with the teacher to assist in improving his/her craft. Unfortunately, this has not been the norm in many of our state’s schools. 3. Access to targeted professional development. These trainings should specifically address successful strategies for students who live in poverty and/or are English Language learners. 4. Use of student performance data. This is an area that is often very controversial when used to evaluate teachers. However, we must take the actual impact of the teaching on student performance as one measure of teaching effectiveness. 5. Reasonable working conditions. Such things as class sizes, appropriate instructional materials and tools, adequate time for planning and collaboration do make a difference and should be the norm. 6. Early intervention for struggling students. One of the most effective interventions is high quality preschool for 3- and 4-year-olds where struggling students can be identified early and assistance provided. 7. Consistent leadership at the school level. This takes the form of school principals focused on instructional improvement and supporting the growth of effective teachers as well as being available to assist teachers with student discipline and parental issues. As important and interesting as this court case regarding teacher evaluation and assignment may be, we cannot be distracted from the real work of narrowing the achievement gap. Only the consistent and systematic implementation of the actions noted above can narrow the gap by building an effective teaching force. Finally, the great majority of our teachers in the county are effective and are dedicated to improving their craft. The results of student performance and success are testimony to this. Our teachers need to be acknowledged for a very difficult job, and a very human one.
early childhood education
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San Luis Coastal Unified School District By Will Jones
alike have advocated for significant increases in preschool spending. States are spending over $400 million more than before the economic crisis. So how has this research been received in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, which serves over 7500 students from Shell Beach to Morro Bay? Fortunately, due to the vision of Superintendent Eric Prater, the enthusiastic support of the Board of Trustees, and the dedicated efforts of staff throughout the district, the SLCUSD offers a robust array of preschool opportunities for students and parents. Not all are new, but all have been invigorated by the creation of new programs that overlap with older programs.
Every dollar we invest in high-quality early childhood education can save more than seven dollars later on, by boosting graduation rates, reducing teen pregnancy, even reducing violent crime. In states that make it a priority to educate our youngest children … studies show students grow up more likely to read and do math at grade level, graduate high school, hold a job, form more stable families of their own. So let’s do what works and make sure none of our children start the race of life already behind. —President Barack Obama Nobel Prize winning economist James Heckman is one the most respected voices in the field of early childhood education research. His famous Heckman Equation is the foundation for sweeping changes that are taking place across the country regarding equal educational opportunity for all preschool students: 1. Invest in educational and development resources for disadvantaged families to provide equal access to successful early human development.
During his first year as superintendent, Dr. Prater developed ten Student Success Initiatives under the heading Success for All. Initiative three, “Develop preschool and transitional kindergarten programs,” promised that by “2013-14, all identified socioeconomically disadvantaged families in SLCUSD will have access to preschool programs at no cost to families… to ensure early exposure to learning how to learn, academic vocabulary, literacy, numeracy, and school structures.” It also promised that “by 2012, all students requiring a transitional kindergarten program will be identified geographically and provided the opportunity, at no cost to families, to receive instruction and access the kindergarten standards.” The good news is that the district has delivered. The programs are in place, even if not every qualifying student is participating at this point. Amy Shields, former C.L. Smith Elementary school principal, is the Director for Students Services for the SLCUSD. She oversees two important programs, Transitional Kindergarten and Success for All preschool. “Transitional kindergarten is based on a California law, the Readiness Act, passed in 2010. It changed the requirement for when kids could start kindergarten. Whereas in the past students qualified if they turned five as late as December 4th, now they must be five by September 1st. Transitional kindergarten is now available for students who turn five between September 2nd and December 1st. It is the first of a two-year kindergarten program. Kindergarten is not an option for children who don’t turn five by September 1st.”
2. Nurture early development of cognitive and social skills in children from birth to age five. 3. Sustain early development with effective education through to adulthood. 4. Gain a more capable, productive and valuable workforce that pays dividends to America for generations to come. “The argument is not just an appeal to the poor,” Heckman says. “We’re saving money for everyone, including the taxpaying middle class and upper class.” Heckman calculates that each dollar spent at age four is worth between $60 and $300 by age 65 in money saved on social services and increased productivity. Heckman’s data has erased party lines. Democratic and Republican governors A U G U S T
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The curriculum is a hybrid of early learning foundations associated with preschool and the new common core state standards. It is developmentally based, where by the end of the year there is more emphasis on academic skills to help with the transition to kindergarten. The half-day program is offered at C.L. Smith, Monarch Grove, Los Ranchos, Del Mar and Bishop’s Peak. Class size ranges from twenty to twenty-four, with a fully credentialed teacher and a part-time aide in each classroom.
“Right now we are collecting data on its effectiveness through parent and teacher surveys. As the students move into elementary school, we’ll be able to look at reading scores over a period of years to help determine success,” Shields said. “Anecdotally, the feedback from parents has been strong about their child’s readiness when they enter kindergarten.” Regarding the Success for All, Shields said, “I have to give credit where credit is due, to our superintendent, Eric Prater, who had a program like this at his last district.” Referring to initiative three, Shields said, “The goal was to find children who were not financially able to access preschool and open up programs at our school sites to serve those children.” After three years of development, programs are now in place at Hawthorne, Pacheco, Baywood, and Smith elementary schools. “We’re looking for children who are not enrolled in preschool programs and also children whose first language is not English. We’re addressing the gap between state and federally funded programs and private programs. Research tells us that preschool is the number one intervention we can put in place for our kids.” Parent education is a major requirement of the program. Families are required to participate. While Transitional Kindergarten receives state funding supplemented by district funds, Success for All is funded exclusively by the school district. Similar to TK, it is staffed by fully credentialed teachers with additional early childhood units who also provide intervention in afternoon elementary school classes. Currently there are eighty-five children enrolled with the numbers increasing yearly. Kindergarten teachers are reporting excellent results for students who have attended the Success for All classes. Two additional opportunities available in the district are the Preschool Early Education Program (PEEP), for 3-4 year-old students with disabilities, and the Parent Participation Program, offered through the Adult School. Former Laguna Middle School principal, Diane Frost, the Executive Director of Student Services, oversees PEEP, and Sally Ames, Coordinator of Adult Education Programs, oversees Parent Participation. According to Frost, “There are two different programs for our kids, PEEP, which is mostly speech and language issues, and PEEP Stars, for those who need more intense school intervention. We have PEEP Stars at C.L. Smith, Del Mar and Hawthorne, and PEEP at C.L.
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at three sites: the district office in San Luis Obispo, Morro Elementary and Sunnyside,” Ames said. “There are five hundred families, including infant participation.”
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Since the program is through the adult school, it is the parent who chooses to be enrolled. “We advertise through our catalogue and at the elementary schools. It’s been around for forty years, so word of mouth is the number one advertising.” All family members are welcome, so “we have grandparents, nannies, lots of fathers. It’s not a mommy and me program.”
Smith.” The students qualify for services when they are three and remain in the program until they transition to kindergarten or transitional kindergarten. Currently there are 45-50 students in PEEP and 40 in Stars. Each participant is fully assessed through the special education process and an individualized education plan is developed for each student. There are specific assessments for preschool aged students delivered by district specialists. “We also have an included section at C.L. Smith. A preschool teacher coordinates with a general education teacher and a resource or program specialist helps to design curriculum and monitor progress.” Most of the students come to PEEP from the county program which serves children until they are three. The PEEP program at Del Mar is regional, so students from Coast Unified and Cambria attend there. “We have a pretty aggressive child find process,” said Frost. “We have flyers out in doctor’s offices, and we go to home day care centers, for example, to try to make sure we’re servicing all the kids in the community we can.” PEEP is federally funded and supplemented by additional district money. “We have really talented preschool teachers in our district. Students are wellprepared when they get to kindergarten.” The Parent Participation Program begins with infants and goes all the way up to elementary school. “This is actually a parenting program, where the parents come to school with their children. It’s offered
There is no state funding, so the program is supported by parent fees and contributions from the district general fund. The courses are separated into age groups, focusing on the development of the child at each stage. “The teachers are helping the parents to understand the child, and the child is getting early classroom experience, with the toys and materials appropriate for that age. It’s a dual curriculum.” All of the eleven teachers are credentialed preschool teachers. After a rich conversation with dedicated professional educators like Amy, Diane and Sally, one that left me feeling very good about the opportunities available to infants and preschool children in the district, I spent time with District Superintendent Eric Prater to get his point of view on the district’s efforts. “When I came here the parent participation program was in place. In addition there was the reading recovery program. There were also tremendous private preschools for families who had the means to send their children. For qualifying low income families there was Head Start and the state preschool program. Our goal through the initiatives was to create a unifying web of support for our students. We created a third level of preschools for students who did not qualify for the state programs and Head Start, but did not have the means to access private preschools.” With the stakes rising for everyone when it comes to education and full and meaningful participation in our culture, the San Luis Coastal Unified School District has made a commitment to assuring a level playing field and success for all students.
The early results are positive. In the end, it’s about kids, and in that respect the district appears to be all in. It has put its resources and it efforts where the research says it will do the most good. For more information about preschool education in the San Luis Coastal Unified School District, visit www.slcusd.org or http://ae.slcusd.org/.
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750 Price Street, Pismo Beach 773-1922 A U G U S T
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history
Eulogy for the bookmobile By Joe Carotenuti “Bringing books to the people” is a laudable motto for any library…and the most personal way is in person. So went the thinking as the earliest traveling libraries, or in England, a perambulator wagon, allowed readers to select books from locations close to home. While modern technology can transfer a book to a device, it is not a book but an image of one. For many, this is an important distinction. In the 95-year history of the County Library system, branches have been closed or, stated in a more genteel manner, “discontinued” as resources and/or patrons prove insufficient to continue operations. Yet, each closure extinguishes another light in the parade of literacy through the County. While justified on various grounds and with assorted reasons, even a small bookcase or shelf of books in some remote location held out some hope for better days. Having been born with the enthusiasm of bringing more books to more people—literally—the last stop for the County Bookmobile was in Templeton on May 31, 2014. Here’s the story Attempts to establish the traveling library started in 1953 when the new county librarian, Walter A. Sharafanowich (1952-1958), approached the Board of Supervisors with a plan to institute the service. His proposal was to expand five of the 23 existing sites into regional centers with smaller locations served by the bookmobile. His presentation was deferred as the Supervisors wanted him to solicit opinions and views as to the proposed changes from various community groups. Supervisor John Ruskovich commented: “The people of Templeton for instance are very proud of their library. If you can sell them on the change, you can sell me.”
The first Bookmobile in 1972
The ladies of the Templeton Women’s Club—the prime movers for the 1919 library in the small community—wrote that they “oppose changing” the small branch. When the local newspaper reported that some branches might be interested in the bookmobile as an adjunct service, the Nipomo folks responded that “they do not favor the bookmobile as a supplementary service or in any other way.” Noted the editor: “They do not want the bookmobile, period.” In the meanwhile, Sharafanowich continued to emphasize the need. The Library Committee of Grand Jury consistently agreed and included its inauguration in each of their reports. When the Grand Jury solicited possible cost-saving measures by consolidating branches, County Librarian Lois K. Crumb (1958-1970) resurrected the idea. She arranged for the State Library’s model bookmobile to visit the County including the 1960 County Fair. She, too, found “patrons of several branches became very much disturbed for fear they would lose their branches.” At best, it might serve remote locations, she thought, but a $40,000 price tag would require years of savings. Indeed, it would require another decade. Interestingly, Nipomo became the first community for a Traveling or Mobile Library. Staffer Lilly Grabil served in the remote branch surrounded by agricultural enterprises and a large migrant population. A 1968 Dodge Pace Arrow language lab was borrowed from the County Superintendent of Schools when not in use between February and June 1969. With a bi-lingual driver and a $2300 budget, the roving library brought books to readers—especially migrant children—who rarely even held one. The following year, the Supervisors appropriated $18,000 for a vehicle anticipating the Nipomo Branch would remain a supply depot open one night a week and closing the Oceano Branch. In the meanwhile, Crumb retired and left the new County Librarian Dale Perkins (1970-1993) to purchase the bookmobile. Perkins explained it took 18 months for the new vehicle to arrive in May 1972 as the manufacturer endured a yearlong strike. Looking for a name for the vehicle, one wag suggested it be called the “Perkinsmobile.”
The second Bookmobile in 1980. A U G U S T
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The Bookmobile up to the end of the program.
A Retirement Facil COMMUNITY
Long term driver, Morgan Philburn
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Even though prospect m reduction in thethe number of stops asof wellmoving as the increasingly dictates future, you stringent owe itanti-pollution to yourself to learn h ended until Templeton—without a library living in your own home for man Inevitably, in April 2002, a new $230,000 librarycarefree since 1977—became the last destination. the wheel for a 3 ½ day schedule of about 40 stops with more videos and books on tape.
was introduced with driver Chuck Youngman reading stories to children along with other duties. While stops declined as schools and retirement “villages” developed their own libraries, It’stolled a fact of life that some 9000 miles were yearly.
For the growing community, it is hoped the Supervisors in cooperation with the community will finally bring a new center of asenlightenment we get older, Pristine is fully that won’t pack up and drive off at the end of the day! some day-to-day tasks become too licensed and insu Decline in use and usability was not attributmuch to handle on our own. That All of our worke able to any one issue. Certainly, the steep rise Contact: jacarotenuti@gmail.com in fuel prices and costs of operation forced doesn’t mean youthehave to move away are carefully scre
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On the road eight hours a day, four days a week with alternating routes, the 2500 books made over seventy stops in its semi-monthly circuit. It also was a roving site for Voter Registration. In its first month, almost 1500 books were checked out; within four years, the annual circulation was over 200,000. It was only logical that Lilly became the county’s first traveling librarian with driverclerk, Joan Warner. Soon, Morgan Philburn became a long-term driver, story-teller, emergency vehicle repairman and familiar face throughout the County stops. With a new schedule developed every four months, long hours on the road and not infrequent mechanical issues, service over the miles was always a challenge. As with stick structures, a faint whisper became a pronounced roar to replace the rapidly aging Dodge. This time, in 1980, Morgan and another County employee flew to the manufacturing plant and drove the new 31 ½ foot library to San Luis Obispo for a December debut. At 27,000 pounds, a fully stocked library carried 3500 books with a less hectic schedule of eight stops a day, five days a week. By the end of the 1980s, the 175 square foot library had 1154 patrons with a yearly circulation of nearly 49,000 books. By then, driver Chuck Seaver handled both driving and circulation. By double shelving books, he increased the bookmobile’s capacity to 5500 including large print books and magazines. With the advent of the 21st century, Jerry Kuiper took
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H O U S E K E E P I N G · YA R D M A I N T E N A N C E · H A N D Y M A N S E R V I C E S · P E R S O N A L C A R E A U G U S T
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COMMUNITY #2 Hospice isn’t just for cancer patients
hospice corner What hospice isn’t By Mark Wilson
I
’ve dedicated most of my efforts in this monthly column to explaining what hospice is and how it benefits patients and families in our community. As I pondered what to write about this month, it dawned on me. Maybe it’s time to stop talking about what hospice is and start talking about what hospice isn’t.
#1 Hospice isn’t a place I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people talk about hospice as if it were a place to which one must relocate. As in … well, I’m dying … time to move to a hospice. Hospice is not a place. Hospice is a philosophy regarding end-of-life care. It focuses on improving quality of life by controlling pain and managing symptoms when a cure is no longer possible. Support and care extends to family members dealing with the disease process by providing counseling services. Care is delivered wherever the patient calls home, whether it’s a private residence, a loved one’s home or a senior living facility or some other crib.
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People often believe hospice is only for cancer patients or the elderly. This is another popular myth. If a physician believes that a patient’s life expectancy is less than six months … any number of illnesses or conditions qualify for hospice care.
#3 To get hospice care, I must be “ready to die” I know it’s confusing. Hospice IS end-of-life care but hospice ISN’T only for people who accept that they are dying. A large part of what we do is support patients and families as they begin to understand and accept that curative treatments are no longer an option. Choosing hospice care means you’ve made the commitment to live your best life while you still have life. It means living out your remaining days with as much joy and dignity as possible … with as little physical and emotional pain as possible. You’re free to leave hospice care at any time. Trust me; it’s not a death sentence. Your condition might improve, making you ineligible for hospice. Or you may even choose to pursue a new curative treatment. Hospice simply provides choice and control of your own care and circumstances. I hope I’ve managed to clear up some of the common misconceptions about end-of-life care. These were just a few of the myths that create barriers for patients and families who might benefit most from hospice. If you have more questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us at Wilshire Hospice. Whether you need help today…or you just need to talk…we’ll be there. You’ll find us online at www.wilshirehcs.org.
COMMUNITY
Mark Wilson is Vice President of Business Development at Wilshire Health & Community Services, Inc., a local not-for-profit organization. Wilshire Hospice is an agency of Wilshire Health & Community Services. Reach out to mark at mwilson@wilshirehcs.org.
STATEPOINT CROSSWORD THEME: WORLD HISTORY ACROSS 1. Mosque officials 6. H in HMS 9. *J. Edgar Hoover, e.g. 13. Dugout vessel 14. Australian flightless bird 15. Fairytale baby carrier 16. Irregular or jagged 17. Any doctrine 18. Baskerville’s scare 19. *He crossed the Rubicon 21. *Darwin’s watercraft 23. Small dog’s bark 24. Two quarters 25. ___-cha-cha 28. Miami Heat star 30. Go ashore 35. Red ink amount 37. Sophia Lauren’s “bye” 39. *She ran for VP 40. Yorkshire river
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AUGUST CROSSWORD SOLUTIONS ON PAGE 43
41. Brings home the bacon 43. Pro ___ 44. Milk-Bone biscuit, e.g. 46. Render speechless 47. Largest organ of human body 48. *Third Reich mastermind 50. Biblical birthright seller 52. Message in a bottle 53. Small municipality 55. Boiling blood 57. *Author of “95 Theses” 60. *The Black Death 63. Hungarian wine 64. U.N. working-conditions agency 66. Crows’ homes 68. Addicts 69. Feather’s partner? 70. *The New York Times’ first one came out in 1851 71. Midterm or final 72. Farm female 73. Courtyards
DOWN 1. Berg matter 2. Painter ____ Chagall 3. Dwarf buffalo 4. Promenade gait 5. Plaything for two 6. *Edward VI to Henry VIII, e.g. 7. Ambulance crew 8. Dance of Castro’s land 9. Hot rum drink 10. Sledgehammer 11. *Mother of Queen Elizabeth I 12. Flanders of “The Simpsons” 15. Rubs 20. Rapidly 22. A late time of life 24. Embolden 25. Used for cleaning 26. Alluring maiden 27. Portfolio content 29. *First European to round Cape of Good Hope 31. In front of criminals 32. Middle Eastern vodka, pl.
33. 4:1, e.g. 34. *Kublai and Genghis 36. Navy commando 38. Blame 42. Creepy one 45. Aquatic goddess 49. *___ v Wade 51. Muse of astronomy, descendant of Uranus 54. What scribes do 56. Opposite of digest 57. *Germany did it in WWI and WWII 58. Hawaiian strings, pl. 59. Queen of Hearts’ pastry 60. Minute opening 61. *Communist threat, 1922-1991 62. Small ornamental case 63. *New Kingdom’s boy-pharaoh 65. *Hammurabi’s concern 67. Last word of “America, the Beautiful”
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palm street perspective final stages of the updated land use and circulation elements program (LUCE)
By SLO City Councilwoman, Carlyn Christianson Dear Friends and Neighbors, It has been said many times that Cal Poly and the City of San Luis Obispo are in a “The LUCE is coming, the LUCE is coming!” Whether you pronounce it “Loose” or “Lucy,” the Land Use and Circulation Elements (LUCE) update is now entering its final stages after 2 ½ years! The review of the Draft Environmental Impact Report by the city’s advisory bodies and the final approval processes by the Council start this month and are scheduled to run through October. This is a tremendous opportunity for the public to focus on their particular area of interest, and get final comments to the city about the DEIR as well as the draft LUCE documents themselves. What’s the best way to make your voice heard? Well, first remember that the LUCE DEIR is a “program-level” document, not meant to replace detailed analysis and evaluations of specific projects. This means that the LUCE DEIR covers the same range of topics as a focused projectlevel environmental review, but differently: more as a comprehensive
cumulative analysis of the impact on our city of all the changes proposed, over a period of 20 years into the future. Every major new project or change approved in this document will receive further detailed environmental review when and if that project comes to the city in the future, but meanwhile this big-picture process is nearing completion. So what to focus on? It is very useful indeed to hear comments regarding incomplete analysis. For example, “this is what’s still missing; please analyze further the Y impacts associated with X program or Z area.” Also useful are comments regarding inaccurate conclusions—“this doesn’t make sense because…” These specific suggestions are very valuable, much more so that the general opinion-type comments such as “this is a terrible idea” or “I like this new program.” Please note the Hearing Date schedule below regarding areas of interest to you, or go to the city’s websites cited at the end of this article. Of course, you don’t have to attend a meeting to provide comments—but all comments regarding the DEIR must be in writing (via email or letter)— and getting your comments in before the DEIR deadline of July 28 is extremely helpful because it allows for further analysis and study if needed. DATE
HEARING BODY
PROPOSED TOPIC
7-‐17
Bicycle Advisory Comm.
DEIR Circulation system and Multi-‐Model approaches
7-‐16 7-‐21 7-‐22 7-‐23
7-‐24 (tent.) 7-‐28
County Airport LU Comm. Architectural Review Comm.
Consistency of LUCE update with ALUP
DEIR & LUE to update Community Design Guidelines
Parks & Recreation Comm.
DEIR Parks impacts and proposed recommendations
Planning Commission
Cont’d Chap 7 & 8; Zoning Code; LUE Chapters 1-‐6
Planning Commission
Cultural Heritage Comm.
DEIR and draft LUE Chapters 7 and 8 DEIR impacts to Cultural Resources
July 28 is the last day of the LUCE DEIR review period—comments due today by 5 pm!
7-‐30
County Airport LU Comm.
Consistency of LUCE update with ALUP
8-‐19
City Council
Review of ALUC consistency determination (LUE 7 & 8)
9-‐10
Planning Commission
Financial Info, Final LUCE & FEIR recommendations
9-‐30
City Council
LUE Chapters 1-‐6 and 9-‐12
8-‐13 8-‐27
Planning Commission Planning Commission
LUE Chapters 9-‐12 and Circulation Element Chapters 1-‐5 Circulation Element Chapters 6-‐16/Intro of Financial info
FEIR (Final EIR) Available
9-‐16 10-‐7
10-‐21
City Council City Council City Council
Grant close-‐out and Financial Information Circulation Element Chapters 1-‐16
Finalize policy & program changes, resolutions, FEIR
The LUCE update has been a labor-intensive process involving many, many community meetings, surveys, workshops and presentations, and a great deal of effort by members of the public as well as the city staff and consultants. While this has been a “focused” update, it incorporates a number of innovative programs and policies, such as multi-modal transportation, that will lead San Luis Obispo into the next twenty years, along with the 1994 LUE which has served the city so well over the past twenty. Please add your voice to San Luis Obispo’s future, especially if you haven’t already, and take a look at the LUCE—it is your future, and ours. See the City’s website www.slocity.org or www.slo2035.com for LUCE details. Contact staff person Kim Murry at kmurry@slocity.org or 781-7274 with LUCE questions or comments. Contact the City at 990 Palm Street, SLO, 93401, 805-781-7100. A U G U S T
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Downtown
Around
The Magazine of Downtown San Luis Obispo
Inside:
August 2014
W hat ’s U p Downtown B usiness Spo tlights
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pennies stacked haphazardly on a ledge of the e live in an age of advanced technology and Masonic Lodge as seen on the cover of Around high speed Internet where within minutes Downtown this month. I discovered that little stack of a question at dinner Google will have provided of change one day while walking back from a an answer to someone at the table. Personally, lunch meeting and I just happened to look over at I think the advantages of the technological the ledge of the building to notice that every level developments like my iPhone are a great way to surface along the Marsh Street Parking Structure be more productive and to be prepared for a wide has change scattered on it. Each coin is like a variety of situations at any given moment. If we longstanding trophy for a pedestrian who skillfully think about how useful an iPhone is we can come Dominic Tartaglia, Executive Director guided their nickel or dime across the gap of the up with a laundry list of uses that would likely two buildings where it came to rest out of the include a communication device, word processor, eye of the casual passerby. The not so successful coins camera, encyclopedia, reading device and the list goes on. plummet down to the street and face less certain demise What many people would probably not want to admit is than resting on the ledge. Perhaps they go toward a child’s that our phones also are contributing to a lack of attention piggy bank or into the “Make Change Count” meters. to the little stories that make daily life more adventurous and less mundane. I’m not saying that technology and egardless, the fact of the matter is that on this one readily available information is boring but that it distracts little corner there is a story of a person who observed us from the nuances of reality that have inspired humans something interesting in the urban landscape and took it for thousands of years. from an ordinary architectural feature into a game. What’s even more interesting to me is that other people took n any given lunch break I can look around and see notice of this game and started throwing their change at an endless field of people staring at their hands while the ledge and it leaves me asking the question of, “How eating lunch or walking down the street. People rushing many people have seen this and how many other hidden out of the parking structure’s top floor and staring at their little adventures are there Downtown?” I can only imagine screens may not know that right next to them is a pile of
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On the Cover: Above the sight lines of Downtown SLO there are many treasures hidden in plain view, such as this stack of pennies beside the top deck of the Marsh Street Parking Structure. Photo by Dominic Tartaglia.
August 1
Plaza
FREE LIVE MUSIC, Fridays 5 - 8 PM* in Downtown SLO’s Mission Plaza
Concerts
in the 2014
Damon Castillo Band
Creeky Tiki
Cornerstone Real Estate
conscious modern roots reggae Sponsor:
presents
August 15
Truth About Seafood rock
brought to you by:
August 8
The Kicks
bike valet sponsor:
Sponsor: Adamski
rock and soul Sponsor:
August 22
Resination
Moroski reggae Sponsor: Madden Cumberland San Luis Obispo Transit & Green LLP
August 29
The JD Project california roots rock Sponsor:
Wallace Group
proudly pouring:
For details, contact the San Luis Obispo Downtown Association at (805) 541-0286 or visit www.DowntownSLO.com No Smoking in Mission Plaza | No Pets | Food & Drink Available | No Outside Alcoholic Beverages
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that many of us are stuck in the mindset of getting from our parking spot (bicycle or car) to our destination and we walk past dozens of these stories around Downtown. In the midst of our urban environment of Downtown San Luis Obispo there must be hundreds of different occurrences where some sort of tribute is hidden in plain sight.
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or the past couple of weeks I have set the challenge for myself to start tuning into Downtown and looking for those little nuances and secrets that I might not see if I wasn’t looking for them. What I have discovered is that beyond the occasional cache of coins or monument plaque, the most interesting things out there are the places where people have stashed an item with the purpose of being searchable but hidden. In my quest for more secrets of Downtown I checked in on Geocaching.com and took a quick look at our neighborhood and was amazed at how many people have actually hidden things around town and how many more actually searched for them. The game that is being played is somewhat of a hybrid of technology-meets-careful-observation where people actually utilize the technology in their hands to navigate to an area and start looking at their surroundings to find a small item carefully hidden. The truly fascinating aspect of “geocaching” is that a lot of the locations are in
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historical landmarks and the original cachers oftentimes have included the history of the host structure or park and careful instructions to be wary of “muggles” so that the covert nature of the game remains intact and only people actively searching for the treasures are rewarded.
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e have a lot of great opportunities to enrich our daily interaction with the seemingly routine environment in ways that make our Downtown a bit more adventurous. Whether we use some form of electronic device or we simply stumble upon a secret by dumb luck there are many opportunities to find adventure in our Downtown that can be a great way to break up the morning walk into the office. If you know of an interesting feature of Downtown that you would like to share with our community I welcome you to visit our Facebook page and drop us a comment with a description of your favorite cache. For those of you who don’t use the Internet please feel free to send us a letter to 1108 Garden Street Suite 210, San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 and we’ll share it for you. Of course in the effort to preserve the secrecy of any intentionally hidden caches we ask that you refrain from sharing those with the public and keep them secret for the rest of us to find. Happy hunting!
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only the top 1% of coffees in Jon & Sara Peterson, Owners the world. The 1130 Garden Street menu is full of (831) 331-1891 amazing freshly baked pastries, ScoutCoffeeCo.com homemade couting” out a new coffee spot? Then let your sense milkshakes, of adventure bring you into Scout Coffee Co. in seasonal sodas Downtown SLO! The shop is welcoming with an outdoorsy, and of course nature-inspired feel that reflects the lifestyle of owners, Jon a wide array of and Sara Peterson. The young couple renovated the 1,400 delicious coffee square foot space at 1130 Garden Street using natural wood drinks. Sara bakes all of the pastries herself and says, accents, exposed brick, huge window panel doors that “Everything is made with love.” bring in lots of natural light and can be opened on beautiful hen asked what customers can expect when they warm days. visit Scout Coffee Co. the Petersons responded on says, “We visited San Luis Obispo as college students with, “great service, quality products and a welcoming and knew this is where we wanted to be one day.” Now, atmosphere.” Jon and Sara focus on building customer after ten years of planning and perfecting, the Petersons relationships and creating a quality space for the entire have been able to make their vision of Scout Coffee Co. a SLO community. It is often filled with families, college reality. They chose the Downtown SLO area because they students, coffee dates and local groups who appreciate the wanted to be a part of the culture and loved the emphasis products as well as the community-feel. You can make your on independent businesses. To the Petersons, Scout Coffee next coffee date at Scout Coffee Co. any day of the week Co. is an extension of who they are and what they support. between 6:30 AM and 8:30 PM! Both Jon and Sara put their full effort into every detail of the business by making everything from scratch and serving By: Kayla Adair
Scout Coffee Co.
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Gower said, “We have extra products in stock at all times Scott & Debbie Gower, Owners to ensure customers will find 883 Marsh Street exactly what they are looking (805) 466-2660 for.” What really separates this business from other e active and “go for it” no matter what level athlete similar businesses is their you are! From cycling to running to swimming gear, hands-on knowledge and you will find a wide array of options at SLO Bike & Run in experience. Everyone who Downtown SLO. Owners, Scott and Debbie Gower, brought works there has personal this business to the area after starting Go For It Sports in experience with the products Atascadero. Their main reason for choosing Downtown and actively participates in SLO is because they identified it as “a great environment these outdoor sports. for this type of business.” The focus stems from the Gowers’ personal passions for triathlons, cycling, running and he Gowers are very swimming. dedicated to promoting an active lifestyle in the SLO LO Bike & Run offers expertise knowledge and superior community through local sponsorship and community customer service. The name Go For it Sports came from events. Whether you’re into cycling, running, hiking or the Gowers’ general philosophy about life. They really swimming get into gear at SLO Bike & Run, open daily at believe that anyone and everyone can be active and live 883 Marsh Street in Downtown SLO. healthy if they just make the effort. SLO Bike & Run is an extension of this name directed specifically towards the SLO By: Kayla Adair community who really embraces this active lifestyle. Scott
SLO Bike & Run – Go For It Sports Inc.
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For more information on Downtown Association events, programs and activities, or to sign up for our weekly Deliver-E newsletter, visit www.DowntownSLO.com
COMMUNITY
slo symphony
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jon anderson, the voice of yes, joins the symphony for pops by the sea By Lisan Nauful
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his Labor Day weekend, on August 31st, the San Luis Obispo Symphony presents its annual Pops-bythe-Sea concert. This year JON ANDERSON, The Voice of YES, will join the orchestra for specially arranged versions of his hits. Sharing the stage with Jon and the Symphony will be singer/ songwriter Inga Swearingen. Jon speaks a bit about the concert, our Symphony, his love of music and his life on the Central Coast.
How did your SLO Symphony POPs appearance come about? I’ve lived here in this area for many years, have seen the symphony quite a few times, and have gotten to know Michael Nowak. Whenever I see him, I always say, “I would love to sing with the Symphony,” and we talk about it, so when he proposed this event to me, I was happy to say ‘yes!’.
Have you done a lot of concerts with symphonies in the past?
Deborah Anderson photo
I’ve been very lucky to sing with many symphonies around the USA, with my band YES. I’ve also done some solo concerts with orchestras, both here and in Europe. It is always wonderful.
What’s your favorite thing about life on the Central Coast? This part of the world has so much wonderful energy, beautiful weather and people who are very open and friendly. It has been said that it’s one of the happiest places in the USA, and it is a fact—it’s always great to come home.
OK you have heard the San Luis Obispo Symphony, what did you think? As I mentioned, I’ve worked with many well-known orchestras, and believe me, the SLO Symphony is up there with the best.
Who are you favorite composers? How did they inspire your music? Jean Sibelius has been my musical God from the first time I heard his 5th Symphony. And I am always mesmerized by Stravinsky, Mozart, Rodrigo and so many, many more. I’m always writing symphonic music, guitar concertos, violin works ... it’s part of my DNA. That’s why YES music always had so many symphonic elements.
What brought you to the Central Coast and when did you arrive? I fell in love with my wife Janee in Los Angeles 21 years ago, and her sister Susie lived here with her family. So Janee and I would come up to visit every now and then ... she wanted to move here, and happily I thought it was absolutely wonderful, so we moved here in 1995.
What new projects do you have planned? I’m always working on new projects; the latest is a band I’m getting together. I’ve been away from the crazy world of YES for around 10 years now, so I had this feeling it would be fun to work with a group again, and it’s going very well.
What’s your favorite thing to do on the Central Coast? Relax, just live a quiet life, and enjoy everything that comes to live in our garden: wonderful funny birds, jack rabbits, deer, skunks, king snakes and many more.
AND last but not least, what is your favorite color? …the color of ‘love’ ... For tickets and more information www.slosymphony.org or call 805.543.3533.
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8th successful Jack’s helping hand fundraiser
For the eighth straight year the Journal attended the Jack’s Helping Hand (JHH) fundraiser at the Santa Margarita Ranch last month. This sold-out BBQ fundraiser event for special needs children brought in the highest number of donations ever received. Over $200,000 was raised for the program. The event included a traditional barbecue buffet, live music, a silent and live auction with seasoned auctioneer Jim Settle and the good company of others who share the passion for assisting special needs children in SLO. It’s the most well organized and efficiently run event that we attend.
john wallace receives lifetime achievement award
John L. Wallace, PE, president and founder of Wallace Group, is the recipient of the 2014 Lifetime Achievement Award in Civil Engineering from the San Luis Obispo branch of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). “To be recognized by a group of your peers like this is amazing,” Wallace said. “I am really grateful for this award and honored to be part of this wonderful organization.” ASCE President Carolyn Berg said John was awarded the honor because of his resourcefulness, innovation, long-term dedication to civil engineering, and community engagement. “John has worked in the industry for nearly 45 years and continues to find ways to mentor younger engineers, look for ways to improve engineering and systems management, and actively improve our local communities.”
announced that his weekly speaker’s gift would be a donation to The Literacy Council in honor of each speaker. Thank you President Dave and the entire club membership. It promises to be a year of fun, without whining, for the Rotary Club TEAM!
Bubble gum alley gets cleaned up
Phil Cohl and Tawnee Hosick, Stifel financial advisors in the firm’s SLO office, have sponsored a major restoration and deep cleansing of the sidewalk in local landmark Bubble Gum Alley. The work was recently performed by a company hired by the city of San Luis Obispo. “We are thrilled to be able to provide the most thorough cleaning Bubble Gum Alley has received in over 40 years,” said Phil. “We love the downtown area and are committed to enhancing it for our community and visitors in any way we can.” Phil and Tawnee decided to sponsor this significant project, which took months to complete, when they learned of many downtown business owners’ desire for enhanced upkeep of the tourist attraction. Bubble Gum Alley, which in 2013 was a finalist in travel web site Virtual Tourist’s unofficial “8th Wonder of the World” competition, draws thousands of visitors per year and displays 1.7 million pieces of gum—and counting! For more information they can be reached by calling 783-2921.
cuesta’s welding fabrication team wins gold
united way announces new board
United Way of SLO County is proud to announce its local, volunteer leadership which has been elected for the 2014-15 year. Officers: President – Alexis Okumura, Owner, Alexis Interiors, Vice President, Community Impact – Dena Bellman, Park & Recreation Specialist at CA Dept. of Parks & Recreation, Oceano Dunes District, Secretary – Debbie Lewis, Retired Principal, Treasurer – Ryan Caldwell, Partner and Wealth Advisor at RE Wacker Wealth Partners. New Directors: Ashlee Akers, Vice President, Client Services at Verdin, Leila Assal, Arroyo Grande High School Student and United Way Youth Board President, Ryan Caldwell, Partner and Wealth Advisor at RE Wacker Wealth Partners, Joyce Miklik, Physician Relation Manager at Tenet Health Care and Brian Reynolds – Retired Director of San Luis Obispo County Libraries. For more information call (805) 541-1234 or visit www. unitedwayslo.org.
Rotary helps literacy council
The Literacy Council for SLO County has received a great honor from the local Rotary Club. Recently, at the regular Wednesday meeting of The Rotary Club of SLO de Tolosa, President Dave Juhnke presented his plan for the year. Much to the surprise of Bernadette Bernardi, our Executive Director and member of that club, Dave
A team of Cuesta College’s Career Technical Education (CTE) students brought home the gold from the 50th Annual SkillsUSA National Leadership and Skills Conference. Placing first in the welding fabrication competition held in Kansas City, was a team of three students—Patrick Hickey, Tyler Grossi and Ryan May. The team spent 6.5 hours designing and building a utility trailer from given materials. “These three students worked flawlessly together,” said Mike Fontes, Cuesta College welding instructor. “Although each had their own job—drafting, assembling, and welding—they came together and worked in unison to build a project to the best of their abilities and it resulted in a gold medal.”
INDUSTRIAL • COMMERCIAL • RESIDENTIAL
D ressing Windows in San Luis Obispo for over 39 Years
Alan “Himself” A U G U S T
alan’s draperies 544-9405 alansdrapery@gmail.com 2014
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tolosa children’s dental center comes to slo
Through a formal agreement with the SLO Noor Foundation, Tolosa Children’s Dental Center (TCDC) will begin utilizing the Noor Dental Clinic in the City of SLO to provide pediatric dental services one day a week beginning in July 2014. Using the same business model as its Paso Robles location, TCDC will accept Denti-Cal insurance and provide a sliding fee scale for uninsured patients at this new location. Grant funding from The Community Foundation of SLO County, RotaryDaybreak SLO, United Way of SLO County, the City of SLO Human Relations Commission, and First 5 of SLO County has also been awarded to help support children’s dental services in this location during the 201415 fiscal period. A ribbon cutting made possible by the SLO Chamber of Commerce was held on Thursday, July 17th at 3071 Higuera Street, Suite 110. New patient appointments for Tolosa Children’s Dental Center in SLO can be made for children age 1-12 years living in Cayucos, Los Osos, Morro Bay, and San Luis by calling (805) 592-2445.
slo county library adds hours, reduces fees
The SLO County Library has announced two improvements to its services that took effect recently. Country library branches will be adding a total of 64 additional open hours. The three regional libraries, Arroyo Grande, Atascadero and SLO, will now be open on Mondays, and will have additional evening hours. Other branches will be adding hours and changing schedules in response to a community survey taken earlier this year. “We took feedback from that survey, weighed our staffing capacity, worked on creating greater staffing efficiencies through actions like job sharing, and implemented a budget-neutral schedule that is equitable for staff while creating greater accessibility for the public,” said County Library Director, Christopher Barnickel. Additionally, the library will no longer charge a $1 hold fee to reserve materials. Said Barnickel, “We adjusted our budget to absorb a significant revenue loss in order to better align ourselves with our mission of providing materials and services to people seeking knowledge, lifelong learning, and recreation, as well as to ensure that all customers of the library may use those materials and services to the maximum extent possible.” For more information, visit the library’s website at www.slolibrary.org.
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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.
slo symphony appoints new executive director
The SLO Symphony Board of Directors is pleased to announce the appointment of Edmund Feingold as the Symphony’s new Executive Director. Feingold will join the orchestra on July 7, 2014. He succeeds Jim Black who left the organization in December 2014. Maryellen Simkins has been serving as the Symphony’s Interim Executive Director since Black’s departure. Feingold’s extensive experience in arts administration has garnered him the Executive Director post at three arts organizations—Boston Musica viva, the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra and most recently, the Monterey Symphony. In these positions he honed his skills and stabilized these organizations by successfully negotiating complex union contracts, restructuring staff responsibilities and developing new projects while maintaining a balanced budget. He also executed numerous substantial fundraising campaigns.
help needed for our local veterans
VA clinic in San Luis is asking for volunteers to serve our Veterans as shuttle drivers. To help pay tribute and express your appreciation for their service, learn about volunteering at your local VA clinic. For more information contact your local VA volunteer representative Mr. Larry Foster at 805-354-6004 or send an email to Lawrence.Foster@va.gov.
Gary A. Sage License No. 0E02096 100 Cross Street, Suite 203 San Luis Obispo, CA 93401 gsage@dibu.com A U G U S T
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(805) 593-1400 (805) 593-1401 fax (805) 593-1413 direct (805) 235-1043 cell Journal PLUS
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new leadership for assistance league
Assistance League of SLO County has announced a new Board of Directors to lead the organization for 2014-2015. The following officers were installed at the Annual Meeting/Installation Luncheon: Gail Stoneburg, president; Georgie Mendonca, vice president membership; Sue Pino, vice president philanthropic programs; Bonnie Long, vice president resource development; Tawnee Hosick, vice president public relations; Carolyn Jones, recording secretary; Maria Vargas, treasurer; and Maureen Marquis, corresponding secretary. Through the chapter’s principal philanthropic program Operation School Bell and its sub-program Sue’s Stars, approximately 1600 low-income students in grades K-8 received new back-to-school wardrobes during the 2013-2014 school year. For the first time in the coming year, Assistance League plans to expand the program’s reach and also will provide new schoolappropriate clothing to 9th-12th grade high school students in need who live and attend schools in the County. The chapter’s goal is to foster academic success by providing essentials that increase students’ self-esteem and confidence. Assistance League is an allvolunteer, national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the lives of the children and families we serve within the local community. For more information about Assistance League of SLO County, visit www.alslocounty.org
volunteer opportunities with literacy council The Literacy Council for SLO County has an ongoing and urgent need for volunteer tutors throughout the county. The next volunteer training will be Saturday, August 16th and Saturday, August 23rd from 10am to 3:30pm. To volunteer, please visit our website www. sloliteracy.org for more information. Location: SLO County Library, 995 Palm St., SLO. Cost: $25.00. For more information call 5414219.
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more than $53,000 raised at french hospital medical center’s golf and tennis tournament
The French Hospital Medical Center (FHMC) Foundation is proud to announce more than $53,000 was raised during The French Cup, it’s eighth annual charity Golf and Tennis Tournament. Held recently at the SLO Country Club, this year’s event broke previous French Cup records with the amount raised and the number of participants. Funds from the event will benefit a significant modernization and expansion project currently underway at FHMC. This project will greatly enhance health care services for our patients and the community. The photo features, from left to right in the first row: Joyce Puscheck, Leonard Cohen and Scott Cartwright. Team member Alan Phillips is not pictured. Joining the winning team in the second row are from left to right: FHMC President and CEO Alan Iftiniuk and Nipool Patel, Chairman of the tournament.
pcpa presents world premiere— the san patricios
The San Patricios is a play of historical significance that has been waiting to be told. It looks inside the Mexican-American War and reveals traitors, deserters, and heroic fighters—who are all one and the same. This world premiere by José Cruz González with music by Daniel Valdez plays in the Marian Theatre July 31 - August 17, then under the stars in the Solvang Festival Theater August 28 through September 7. It’s 1846. America’s plans to conquer the west under the call of Manifest Destiny helped provoke the largely unpopular Mexican-American war from which there was rampant desertion. One small group of deserters was to be made an example. Tracked down and court martialed, 30 were found guilty as traitors and were publicly hanged in a circus-like display. These were the San Patricios or Saint Patricks. For tickets and more information go to pcpa.org.
THE BULLETIN BOARD
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Hypertufa Workshop at the SLO Botanical Garden on Saturday, August 23, from 10 AM to 1 PM. Join artist Jennifer Fox as you create rustic, textured containers that are lightweight, porous, and perfect for your garden. Hypertufa is a relatively lightweight concrete mixture that creates a stone-like appearance for your planting trough. These containers are great for sedums, small bulbs, miniature or dwarf plants, herbs, and moss. $50 Garden members/$60 non-members. To register or for more information contact our Education Coordinator at education@slobg.org or 805.541.1400x 304.
sesloc members help fill lunchboxes
Through the generosity of its members, SESLOC Federal Credit Union recently presented the Food Bank Coalition of SLO County a check for $9,705, to benefit the “Lovin’ Lunchbox” program. “Lovin’ Lunchbox,” which is part of the Summer Feeding Service Program, provides meals to children during the summer months when school is not in session. Each April during Youth Month SESLOC has invited members to join them in supporting this program with the theme “Feeding Young Minds and Bodies.” Over the past three years, the credit union has contributed nearly $27,000 to this countywide program. In that time the program has grown from serving at 8 sites to serving at 17. In SLO County approximately 16,000 children are on free and reduced cost lunch throughout the school year but during the summer their families struggle to provide enough nutrition for growing bodies.
botanical gardens august events
Join us at the San Luis Obispo Botanical Gardens on Saturday, August 9th from 1 PM – 2 PM to learn the status of the native bear population. Learn where these elusive bears reside, how you can avoid interaction or encourage wildlife health. Be prepared to ask questions! $5 for members/$10 nonmembers. Docent tour follows. More information at slobg.org/bears/.
new volunteer advocates for casa
Juvenile Court Judge Linda Hurst recently swore in six new CASA volunteer advocates and mentors who will be assigned to an abused, neglected or abandoned child or sibling group or to a youth transitioning to adulthood from foster care in SLO County. CASA conducted complete background checks on all volunteers and provided the initial training. For more information, visit www.slocasa.org. Photo, left to right: Kyle Feavel, Lisa Sutherland, Terry Fibich, Judge Linda Hurst, Gerry Robertson, Kathy Collins and John Cutler.
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COMMUNITY
46
eye on business
Paper airplanes aren’t just for kids By Maggie Cox, Barnett Cox & Associates
T
he recent Central Coast Business Symposium® had a trio of terrific speakers, offered powerful perspectives and sparked a great deal of conversation, but it was the lead up to the event that created an eye opening moment for me.
instructed more than 300 employees on the lean principle. When AMB’s Kathy Eppright saw Bryan use a paper airplane exercise to demonstrate the lean principles, she was intrigued and suggested Bryan be included as a symposium speaker.
For the last six years, law firm Andre, Morris & Buttery (AMB) has hosted the annual symposium designed to foster ideas and get business people talking. AMB is joined by six leading businesses in producing the event that attracts several hundred attendees to the Clark Center. This year the program included Shama Kabani of Marketing Zen speaking about digital trends and social media; Cambria resident and longtime Cisco Systems communications executive Maureen Kasper sharing her perspective on the power of personal branding in business leadership; and Bryan Davenport of Zodiac Aerospace in Santa Maria teaching a hands-on class in lean manufacturing.
The problem was that the other members of the symposium program committee, including me, couldn’t quite understand how the principle worked. We needed to see the game in action before we could commit to using it for the symposium. Off we went to Santa Maria to meet with Bryan and give it a whirl. Five of us gathered in the Zodiac conference room to do something very simple: as a team, fold sheets of copy paper into paper airplanes. The goal was to use an assembly line and fold as many perfect planes in two minutes as possible. Bryan helped by giving each of us printed instructions covering our step of the assembly.
Lean manufacturing is a principle made famous by Toyota and today applied to virtually any business. Lean focuses on the idea of improving systems, enhancing communication and giving people the tools needed to produce cost efficient results. It makes every employee responsible for end product success. Lean is used at Zodiac Aerospace, whose more than 1,500 Santa Maria employees design and build airplane interiors. Cal Poly engineering alum Bryan Davenport heads the lean manufacturing team for the Zodiac in Santa Maria, where he has
We sat down to fold, I was second in the sequence and a bit smug about what a cinch the deal was about to be. Except that when the first person passed me the paper to execute the second fold, I found myself flustered. Stymied. Aggravated. The directions made no sense. I couldn’t tell from the picture if my fold was supposed to be to the inside or to the outside. Was the fold a 45 degree shape or something different? My confusion held up the line as I bumbled and blustered and complained to no avail that I couldn’t figure it out and just needed my questions answered. I got no help. Needless to say, our team’s
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A U G U S T
2014
Journal PLUS
finished airplane output was virtually nil and I was to blame. The competitor in me was miserable. I hated failing. I hated feeling lost or ignorant of the mechanics—even of something as ridiculous as a paper airplane. I was not enjoying the game. Bryan stopped things to point out what had just been painfully illustrated. He said that I was in the role of an employee who is eager to do the right thing and eager to succeed, but has not been given adequate instruction about what is expected or how it should be done. Incomplete information created confusion and wasted time. Something as simple as a moment’s pause and a clear explanation would have saved my paper airplane. And while I was among friends and not afraid to ask questions, Bryan pointed out that not all employees have that luxury. Many fear letting on about their ignorance or are concerned that a hole in their knowledge could lead to the loss of a job. Instead of pushing for excellence, the employee scrambles to hide inadequacies. Nobody wins. Bryan had made his point about how it feels to be left twisting in the wind and how individual success can be unwittingly sabotaged. And a week later when Bryan conducted the game at the symposium, it was my turn to see that same awareness pop in a group of 400 business leaders. We were all reminded about how simply explaining an airplane fold can make all the difference in performance. Andre, Morris & Buttery has posted a pod cast of all three symposium speakers at www.amblaw.com.
ALERT TESTS
ANNUAL EmERGENcY SATURDAY · AUGUST 23
REvERSE 911 9:00 Am – NOON
SIREN TEST NOON & 12:30 pm
■ On Saturday, August 23
■ Local radio and tele-
the San Luis Obispo County
vision stations will broad-
Early Warning System sirens
cast normal programming
and the Reverse 911 system will
throughout the tests.However,
be activated for an annual test. The
if you hear the sirens at any other
Reverse 911 system will be activated
time go indoors and tune to a local
for residents and businesses within the
station for important emergency
Emergency Planning Zone between
information and instructions. When
the hours of 9 am and noon.
■
at sea, tune to Marine Channel 16.
Following the Reverse 911 test, the
■ Complete emergency planning
Early Warning System sirens will sound
information is in the Customer Guide
at noon and again at 12:30 and will
section near the front of your current
last for 3 minutes. During these tests,
SLO County YP phone book, and
no action is required on
at www.slocounty.ca.
the part of the public.
gov/oes.
Sponsored by the County of San Luis Obispo Office of Emergency Ser vices and Pacific Gas and Electric Company. Paid for by Pacific Gas and Electric Company.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 23 — IT’S ONLY A TEST.
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