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SINCE 1889 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CXXXI, NO. XLIII
CITY COUNCIL
Council Honors Outgoing City Manager Frutchey in Proclamation
THURSDAY, APRIL 8, 2021
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INSPIRATION
‘Coach Kiah’ Guest Appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show
Community Services Director, Frace, provides update on low-income housing By CAMILLE DeVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
PASO ROBLES — Mayor Steve Martin presented a Thomas Frutchey Proclamation in honor of the outgoing city manager. After five years, Frutchey announced he would be retiring as Paso Robles City Manager during the Nov. 16, 2020 meeting. Frutchey had originally planned to retire at the end of February 2021. Frutchey responded to the proclamation with the following words: “I have worked in several cities, as you know, and there are several hallmarks of this community. One is the city council. I have seldom worked with a council where five members have had significantly different perspectives. Yet, all have been committed to serving the entire community, not just their constituency, and coming to agreement with the other council members, coming to a consensus to make sure that the decisions were ones that all can support. That sounds like it should be normal, it is by no means normal, and I applaud this council. You are truly being congratulated and honored by the community. I would also like to applaud the staff. I’ve worked with many staff in the cities in which I’ve worked and in the private sector. And there are several hallmarks of this staff that are unique. Number one is for a city of 31,000 people; we have only about 180 staff on duty at any point in time. That is incredibly lean, and yet people continue to come to work day after day, do more than their fair share. There are no complaints. There is just dedication to doing what is best for the community. One of the things I noticed right away when I came here was that if one person out of 180 asked for help, there were 179 people saying, ‘how can I help? That also was very rare. And then finally, this community. It’s an amazing community. There are so many people who stand up to serve. They don’t ask for anything in return. They volunteer their time. They donate their money, they donate their expertise. That’s what makes community great. That’s what makes this community one that can survive the challenges, Mr. Mayor, that you talked about that we faced over the past year. And we certainly have been tested. It would have been easy for it to be something that CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
EVENT
Central Coast native Kiah Twisselman “Coach Kiah” (center) was a guest on the Kelly Clarkson (right) Show to tell her inspirational story on how she changed her life and what she is doing today to help others and meet her inspiration Rachel Hollis (left). Contributed photos
Clarkson surprised Twisselman by introducing her to author Rachel Hollis By CAMILLE DeVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
K
iah Twisselman, Carrisa Plains resident, made a guest appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show on Mar. 30. Before boarding a plane to a conference for the beef council, Twisselman picked up Rachel Hollis’s book ‘Girl, Wash Your Face.’ Then Twisselman had her ah-ha moment,
if you will, after having to ask for a seatbelt extender on the plane for the first time. At the time, Twisselman weighed 285 pounds. But since her ah-ha moment, Twisselman has lost 122 pounds and become a full-time life coach. Talking about Hollis’s book, Twisselman said to Clarkson, “Reading her book, her words were like getting slapped in the face, in a good way. It was kind of a hard pill to swallow. Her book talks a lot about taking massive ownership of your life, and I had realized I had been playing the victim in my life in a big way.”
Twisselman said the whole experience happened very quickly. She was invited to be on the show one week before taping but had no idea the surprise they had in store for her. During the show, Clarkson surprised Twisselman by introducing her to Rachel Hollis, the author of the book that started Twisselman’s journey. “Their crew was so wonderful from the very first person I met to the last. Getting to meet Kelly was incredible—she was so lovely, and it was the most incredible surprise that they surprised me with Rachel Hollis on the show. I’m still pinching myself.”
SUPPORT
Supervisors Discuss Land Use Permits and Water Issues
By CAMILLE DeVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
K
yndal, five years old, and her mother, Raquel Gottfried of Atascadero, received heartbreaking news during a trip to visit family in Texas for spring break. On Friday, Mar. 12, Kyndal and her mother arrived in Texas. Kyndal appeared to be extremely lethargic and not like herself. The family thought perhaps she was jet-lagged and tired from traveling. But the following day, Kyndal showed no interest in playing with cousins, had no appetite, and didn’t want to walk. That was when Kyndal’s mother, Raquel, took her little girl to the Texas Children’s Hospital, and their world flipped upside down. Within one hour of arriving at the hospital, Kyndal had a CT scan which revealed a tumor in the back of her brain. The following day, Kyndal went in for surgery. After six hours, Kyndal’s neurosurgeon and his team were able to remove a three-centimeter tumor attached to her brain. Unfortunately, two smaller tumors were located in Kyndal’s brain, and a third was found at the base of her spine. Within a few weeks, Kyndal will go through two rounds of radiation and chemotherapy as treatment for the remaining tumors. Oncology results showed Kyndal has medulloblastoma, the most common malignant tumor found in children. Texas Children’s Hospital is the largest children’s
SPORTS
CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
GOVERNMENT
Community Comes Together in Support of Local Five-Year-Old Diagnosed with Cancer Raquel Gottfried’s daughter Kyndal is being treated in Texas for brain tumors
“I did see the story when it first came out,” said Hollis, “I promise you the ripple effects of you choosing to do this in your life and then telling that story and being public about it you are changing your community, your family, this will reach for generations and you won’t be able to see the effects of the change that you’ve made because it will continue long after your gone.” Hollis then invited Twisselman to be a VIP guest at Hollis’s RISE Women’s Conference. Seeing and meeting Hollis, the one who
Sheriff Ian Parkinson shares appreciation for telecommunication employees By MELISSA MATTSON melissa@pasoroblespress.com
Kyndal Gottfried, 5 years old, of Atascadero is being treated in Texas for tumors found on her brain and spine. Contributed photo
hospital in America. Their website reads, “For 12 straight years, we’ve also been recognized as one of the best by U.S. News & World Report. This year, we’re ranked #4 overall and in the top five in seven specialties – including #1 in pediatric cardiology and heart surgery.” Cori Julian, Raquel’s friend since elementary school and fiance to her brother, said, “It’s a blessing that they caught it in Houston, and she was able to be seen there-she couldn’t have waited. She was getting so sick.” A few weeks before making their trip to Texas, CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
COVID-19 UPDATE
WEEKLY FEATURE
SAN LUIS OBISPO — The County Board of Supervisors met on Tuesday, Apr. 6, for a regularly scheduled meeting. The meeting opened with approval of the consent agenda and then an update from Dr. Penny Borenstein, County Health Director, on the current state of COVID-19. The county remains in the Red Tier, as the case positivity rate is currently around 6.2 and needs to be at 5.9 in order to move to the Orange Tier. Borenstein addressed the slight uptick in cases which she states may be a reaction to St Patrick’s day. While there’s no hard data to show this, historically, holidays have created an increase in cases.
For the full COVID-19 update, read the “SLO County Remains in Red While 16 Counties Move to Less Restrictive Tier” story on A5. Vaccinations will soon be open to anyone 16 and older, and currently, county-wide, there have been 142,571 doses administered. The next item was the submittal of April 2021 as “Month of the Child” and “Child Abuse Prevention Month,” as well as “San Luis Obispo County Crime Victims’ Rights Awareness Month.” Next was a submittal by the Sheriff-Coroner to proclaim the week of Apr. 11 to Apr. 17 as “San Luis Obispo County National Public Safety Telecommunications Week.” “Even though they’re not on scene, they experience that more than people truly realize... Hats off to everyone who works behind the radio and phones in any center. They deserve a lot more recognition than they CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
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