GOOD NEWS REAL NEWS HOMETOWN NEWS
SINCE 1916 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CVIII, NO. XXXIX
LAWSUIT
Doan family files lawsuit against county, city, and state
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 12, 2023
atascaderonews.com • $1.00 • WEEKLY
COLONY DAYS
Atascadero celebrates 50 years of Colony Days Fun in parade
By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
By CAMILLE DEVAUL camille@atascaderonews.com
CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
City Council approves RV storage facility Long-term city employees recognized for their work
Missing 5-year-old Kyle Doan was swept away in floodwaters on San Marcos Road last January
NORTH COUNTY — A wrongful death lawsuit has now been filed by the parents of missing 5-year-old Kyle Doan, who was swept away in floodwaters on San Marcos Road in Paso Robles last January. The suit was filed just after 11 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 5 against the County of San Luis Obispo, the City of Paso Robles, and Caltrans. On Jan. 9, Kyle was swept away by floodwaters in San Marcos Creek during a severe stint of winter storms surging through the county. He and his mother, Lindsy Doan, were on their way to school when they were unable to complete their crossing of the San Marcos Creek. Since then, several searches for Kyle by the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff ’s office have taken place along the Salinas River. Despite several efforts, Kyle’s remains have not been found. In the lawsuit, the Doans are seeking damages for negligence, dangerous condition of public property, strict liability: failure to warn, wrongful death, survival action, and bystander recovery of emotional distress. Within the court documents the Atascadero News obtained from the San Luis Obispo County Superior Court, it states: At all times herein mentioned, the crossing of San Marcos Road and Wellsona Road were two public roadways that were and are, public roads in the City of El Paso de Robles, County of San Luis Obispo, State of California. It goes on to allege that each of the defendants is “responsible in some manner for negligence, willful misconduct, strict liability, design defects and dangerous conditions, infliction of emotional distress, and other
CITY
San Luis Obispo County Sheriff’s personnel lead the way in the annual Colony Days Parade on Oct. 7. Photo by Rick Evans
Not even the heat could keep the community away By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
ATASCADERO — The Atascadero community and their friends were out in full force on Saturday, Oct. 7, for the 50th Annual Colony Days
Parade and celebration. There were so many people lining the streets that the sidewalk along the parade route filled up with people to cheer on the 65 parade entrees that you didn’t even realize how hot it was outside. “[There was a] very strong community feel and many great comments on how happy they [the people] were to have
a hometown celebration,” stated Colony Days President Karen McNamara. The parade kicked off with this year’s Royalty, consisting of Donn and Christine Clickard as King and Queen and Robert “Grigger” Jones as Grand Marshal leading the way. “The 50th Anniversary was very special,” commented McNamara. “The Royalty and
Grand Marshal have done so much for our community. The parade was great.” Like in years past, there was a parade competition, where the winners were announced later in the day. The Sweepstakes prize went to Escuela del Rio, an organization that promotes independent lives for adults with developmental CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
ATA S CA D ERO —T h e Atascadero City Council met for their regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 10, at 6 p.m. The hybrid meeting was held in the City Council Chambers and lasted until after 1 a.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 11. At the beginning of the meeting, the agenda passed unanimously. The meeting then went into the council, recognizing city employees for their hard work in Atascadero. City Manager Jim Lewis talked about each of the employees being honored. “One of the best, neatest things about being city manager is working alongside amazing people, and when you get to recognize them for their years of service and their commitment to our community that we love, it doesn’t get much better than that,” stated Lewis. He started by bringing up service award winners who have worked for the city for five years, including Fire Engineer/ CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
WORLD CHAMPION
Atascadero celebrates 16-year-old scooter athlete
Claire Parks took #1 in the world at the World Skate Scootering Pro Tour in Barcelona, Spain
By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
ATASCADERO — A variety of ages and faces from Atascadero headed out to the steps of City Hall on Wednesday, Oct. 4, at 4 p.m. to celebrate world champion Claire Parks. Parks, 16 and a junior at Atascadero High School, recently took first place at the World Skate Scootering Pro Tour in Barcelona, Spain, in September. ATown Park owner Kevin Campion introduced not only Claire but two other female athletes who are putting Atascadero on the map with their scooter skills. “I really appreciate all of you coming out here, especially when it’s a little bit warm, to celebrate our park, ATown Park, and to celebrate some results of
conducted his own mini-interviews with the female athletes and introduced the community members gathered there to some of his staff as well. He also pulled Chris Ferris up out of the crowd. Ferris has grown up skating at ATown Park and was ranked the #1 Men’s World Champ in 2022-23. Campion introduced everyone to 14-year-old Kennedie Baker. The scooter rider has grown up in Atascadero and is currently a freshman at Atascadero High School. “I’ve been to competitions in Arizona, Las Vegas, and Oregon. I went to the World Championships for ISF last year in October, and I placed seventh,” Baker said proudly Sixteen-year-old scooter world champion Claire Parks is given a certificate of recognition from the when asked where scooter riding had Atascadero City Council. From left are Councilmember Charles Bourbeau, Mayor Pro Tem Susan Funk, taken her. Parks, Mayor Heather Moreno, Councilmember Mark Dariz, and Councilmember Heather Newsom on the Next, Campion then introduced the Atascadero City Hall steps. Photo by Christianna Marks crowd to Aymee Marquez, a senior at some amazing young people in our ing a lot in recognition of Atascadero,” AHS who started riding at the skate community that have been out on the said Campion to the crowd. park about four years ago. front lines and absolutely accomplishDuring the ceremony, Campion CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
VETERAN
Local Army Veteran takes Honor Flight with all of his sons John Butz is an Atascadero favorite By CHRISTIANNA MARKS christianna@atascaderonews.com
NORTH COUNTY — Atascadero wouldn’t be the same without John Butz and his wife, Barbie. The two have become staples in the North County, and at the beginning of October, 90-year-old Butz, who is a
Korean War veteran, was able to go on an Honor Flight with four of his family members, including all three of his sons. Butz, along with his sons, Doug, David, and Daniel, and daughter-in-law Michele, left on Monday, Oct. 2, for his Honor Flight, where veterans explore war memorials on the East Coast. Honor Flight Central Coast California is the local nonprofit organization that takes veterans from Southern Monterey County through Ventura County on
all-expense paid trips to visit the Washington, D.C., memorials honoring veterans’ military service. The Honor Flight was a charter plane full of veterans from the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and every single military branch was represented — and it was a new trip attendance record. “There were about 100 veterans. Only nine from Korea because we’re getting older, as you know,” stated Butz. Butz stated that out of every amazing thing the group got
to do, his favorite was when he and his sons were able to see the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier together. “We watched the complete Change of the Guard, which is absolutely awesome. The weather was beautiful, with not much humidity, which I was amazed about. That ceremony there was overlooking the Capitol,” said Butz. “The most awesome thing was after the Changing of the Guard, they had a ceremony that changes John Butz (far left) is shown with the other eight Korean War Veterans on the
COMMUNITY
NORTH COUNTY LIFE
SPORTS
CONTINUED ON PAGE A7
Honor Flight to Washington, D.C. Photo courtesy of the Butz family.
WEATHER
atascaderonews.com twitter.com/ @AtascaderoNews facebook.com/ @AtascaderoNews
COLONY DAYS 50th Anniversary in Photos | A6
BOY SCOUTS Celebrate Court of Honor | B1
SPORTS ROUNDUP North County Football | B8
High 81° | Low 48°
5
67808 24135
7