Hometown News Since 1916 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CIV, NO. XLIII
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2020
atascaderonews.com • $1.00 • WEEKLY
DECISION 2020
EDUCATION
Steady Stream at Voter Service Centers
Local ballots tabulated Tuesday night; Presidential election undecided as of Wednesday NORTH COUNTY — Voter Service Centers in the North County saw a steady stream of people over the General Election’s final four days. The majority dropped off their ballots instead of going inside and voting. San Luis Obispo County released a series of election summary reports on Election Day, Nov. 3, the first coming shortly after the Centers closed at 8 p.m. The initial report included more than 100,000 vote-by-mail ballots. Over the course of Tuesday evening, reports came hourly,
EDUCATION
AUSD, SLO Public Health Add To Reopening Plan By CONNOR ALLEN connor@atascaderonews.com ATASCADERO — The Atascadero Unified School District Board discussed Tuesday the first phase of reopening schools, which began Monday, and details added to the reopening plan for secondary schools in January. AUSD Superintendent Tom Butler noted near the start of the meeting that the parent surveys for kids in grades 6-12 went out on Monday, Nov. 2, and will be active till next Monday, Nov. 9. The survey allows parents to choose between three different options for their children, full distance learning, the hybrid model that will include in-person instruction, and the option for independent studies. Board President Donn Clickard was back in action on Tuesday after spending the last few meetings at home recovering from a medical procedure. He kicked off the round of board reports with an inspired message to the community and staff on returning to school and developing CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
LOCAL NEWS
with the last coming at 11:13 p.m. — this report showed that 100 percent of the precincts had been counted and the unofficial winners in each race were bolded. “Election Day went well and was light,” said SLO County Clerk-Recorder Tommy Gong, adding that the counting was ongoing. He expected to have an estimate on how many ballots were remaining by the end of Wednesday. While the majority of the SLO County races have mostly been decided, the same can’t be said for the Presidential election, adding to what has already been a challenging 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. As of publication, the election between President Donald
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THE FASTEST FAMILY
Doug Gordon and Family are National Champions PASO ROBLES — It has been a tough year and one of the worst for most people around the globe. A deadly virus, school shutdowns, business closures, and social restrictions have impacted many people. Still, among all that, there is one family in Paso Robles, making the most of a difficult situation and perhaps having one of the best years of their lives. The Gordon family is a family of drag racers. This year, their dreams came true as Doug Gordon officially brought home the family’s first NHRA Top Alcohol Funny Car National Championship in the Lucas Oil Series this past weekend. Drag racing runs through the veins of everyone in the Gordon family. It’s been passed down for generations and will continue with the next as Doug’s daughters, Templeton High School students Maddi and Maci Gordon, have already caught the bug and enthusiastically spend their weekends with grease up to their elbows working on their dad’s car if they aren’t racing themselves. “My dad started racing the car
BUSINESS
Local Top Alcohol Funny Car Driver Doug Gordon holds up a trophy after a win in Dallas earlier this season. Contributed photo
and driving the car; he owns the car, I just get to drive it now,” Doug told The Atascadero News. “He owned it and drove it for a few years, and I was like the kids working on the car when I was growing up. Then from the mid-’80s till the early ‘90s, when I was 18, the economy had kind of taken a downturn, and we weren’t sure if we were going to keep racing, and they decided to give me a shot at driving before we quit. That was in 1993, I got my license then, and here we are in 2020.” Racing has always been a family outing disguised as a competition for the tight-knit family. Doug’s
COMMUNITY
father Mike is part of the racing team, and this year, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, his daughters joined him on the road as well. For the past five years, Maddi and Maci have been racing while also competing in high school sports and handling their school work. Each has their own cars and have spent the last few years dominating the Division 7 NHRA Junior Dragster League. They have four championships between the two girls, and with a little better luck, they could have as many as six. Maci, the youngest who is a freshman at Templeton High
WEEKLY FEATURE
By CONNOR ALLEN connor@atascaderonews.com
School, won her age group in 2015, 2017, and 2019 and hopes to bounce back in 2021 since odd years appear to be her time to shine. Maddi, a junior, won in 2016 and nearly stood in the winner circle in 2018 and 2019, losing just by a few points due to car troubles. This year began like any other year for the Gordon family, but things started to change when the pandemic hit in March. As all the county school districts made it clear that distance learning would open the 2020-2021 school year, the family realized an opportunity in front of them. Over the years, Maddi and Maci would each get to attend a handful of their father’s races, depending on travel and schedules. This year, with no obligations except for a webcam on their laptop, Maddi and Maci traveled to every race and soaked up every ounce of information available to them. “Last year, we would just take out the spark plugs after each round, take off the valve covers, drain the puke tank in the back, you know, just little things,” Maci said. “It was still really fun to us, but this year we
Trump and Joe Biden was still undecided as votes were being counted in Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia. California was called early and, as expected, went to Democratic Presidential candidate Biden. Sixteen-year-old Ella Mitchell was excited to be working at the Voter Service Center inside the Frontier Building of Paso Robles Event Center. “It’s a good experience and a great way for me to learn how it works,” said Mitchell, who attends Paso Robles High School.
By CONNOR ALLEN connor@atascaderonews.com
AUSD Students Return To In-Person Learning ATASCADERO — For the first time in the 2020-2021 school year, the classrooms and halls of Atascadero’s public elementary schools were filled with the previously familiar echoing of children’s laughter and occasional weeping. Parents that signed up for in-person education, under the hybrid model, in the Atascadero School District dropped their children off this morning, Nov. 2. On July 29, San Luis Obispo County Health Officer Dr. Penny Borenstein alerted local districts that they could begin applying for the elementary school waiver that allows for in-person instruction to be provided to students in fifth grade and lower. Waivers were issued based on the most current scientific data and a review of local epidemiological data, in consultation with the California Department of Public Health, along with other public health considerations. During a Sept. 15 School Board meeting, the Atascadero Unified School District announced it would be applying for the elementary waiver. The return looked a little different for families depending on the school their child currently attends, with some returning for in-person education Monday morning, Nov. 2, and others opting for an afternoon return. The decision on mornings or afternoons was left up to the individual schools that factored in several different variables. “It [scheduling] was based on a couple of different factors. One is the results of the survey. I wanted to displace as few families’ schedules as possible,” San Gabriel Elementary School Principal Shauna Ames said. “We still have to change some, but the majority of our distance-learning students were morning and wanted to stay distance learning. The second reason is cleaning. We can use aids and other classified staff to help our custodians clean, but if you have it in the afternoon, everyone goes home, and we can really clean...The third reason was the temperature. We are going to be keeping doors and windows open, and we don’t want our kids to be freezing since it is pretty cold in the mornings.”
Jessica Main (left) and the San Luis Obispo County Clerk Recorder team counting Live Ballots collected from the 23 Voter Service Centers over the 4 days of voting. Photo courtesy of the SLO County Clerk Recorder
By BRIAN WILLIAMS brian@atascaderonews.com
Local high school teacher Irene McDaniel picks up her son from his first day of in-person instruction in AUSD. Photo by Connor Allen
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WEATHER
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