GOOD NEWS. REAL NEWS. HOMETOWN NEWS.
SINCE 1889 Making Communities Better Through Print.™ VOL. CXXXII, NO. VII
THURSDAY, AUGUST 5, 2021
COMPETITION
GOVERNMENT
Council Agree to Discuss Creating New Cannabis Policy Council approves staff to file pre-application for Spaceport By CAMILLE DeVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
PASO ROBLES — On Tuesday, Aug. 3, the Paso Robles City Council met for a regularly scheduled meeting. Two public hearings were held. The first was to receive input from the community redrawing of election district boundaries. Council heard a report from staff on the redistricting process and “permissible criteria to be considered to redraw district boundaries.” Due to a delay in receiving data from the 2020 census, the public will draw maps between Oct. 5 and Mar. 1, 2022, and a map will be adopted by Apr. 17. There were no comments from the public, and the hearing was closed. The second hearing regarded subdividing a single 6.54-acre parcel into two smaller parcels at 3051 Union Road. Council heard a report from staff on the Development Plan 20-09 for the construction of two 12,462sf buildings and associated parking and yard areas; the Conditional Use Permit 21-19 for the establishment of contracted services uses; and a Private Wastewater Permit for two onsite wastewater treatment systems (septic systems). Councilmember Fred Strong was concerned about the buildings being located in a flood plain and wanted to be assured no sewage could be contaminated water flowing into the river and jeopardize State permits. The City Engineer, David Athy, confirmed that the septic system meets requirements. There was no public comment on the second public hearing item. Council voted 5-0 to continue this item to the next meeting to speak with the actual applicant. Next, Council discussed submitting a pre-application to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) for a Spaceport license. There are currently only 12 licensed Spaceports in the US, only one of which is in California, located in the Mojave Desert. Spaceport operations of potential interest are horizontal CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
RESCUE
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Left: First Place Winner THS student Shane Brennan. Group photo left to right: Ben Foxford, Joe Domingos, Braydon Beckett, Casey Havemann (2020 Grand Champion), Shane Brennan (2021 Grand Champion), Cameron McEntire, Annika Ernstrom, Annika Jensen, John Paul Schmidt, Josh Jorgensen, Hunter Breese, Gabe, Brett Lipscomb, Gabe Fuller. Contributed photos
JB Dewar Tractor Restoration Winners Awarded at CMSF
Templeton High School takes first and second place By CAMILLE DeVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
PASO ROBLES — Shane Brennan and John Paul Schmidt took first and second place in the JB Dewar Tractor Restoration Program at the California Mid State Fair. Winners were announced during the Cattleman’s Day dinner on Friday, Jul. 22. This year marks the 21 years of the program. Each year, JB Dewar and Chevron Delo reward young students who have restored an antique tractor by providing them with a platform to share their workmanship, along with the distribution of scholarships. JB Dewar mentors and advises students,
teaching them business skills, teamwork, project management, budgeting, planning, and marketing lessons in their restoration process. This year there were eight restored tractors entered. Students can work as a team or individually on a tractor. Since 2002, JB Dewar, Chevron Delo, the Alex Madonna family, and other local businesses have awarded over $100,000 in scholarships. Brennan is a Senior at Templeton High School (THS) and is the FFA Chapter President. He restored a 1952 Farmall Super AV, which took him two years to complete. This is Brennan’s second tractor he has restored for the program. This year’s tractor required a full rebuild, making it a more extensive project full of new lessons. Brennan said he learned more business skills, time management and honed in on his
EVENT
ATASCADERO — The Atascadero Greyhound Foundation (AGF) and Lighthouse Foundation (LF) hosted their annual All-Comers Track & Field meet at the Atascadero High School Track on Wednesdays throughout July. The meets were welcome to all ages from 4 to 90-years-old; competitors participated in the Discus Throw, Pole Vault, Shot Put, Long Jump, High Jump, Turbo Javelin, 100/110m High Hurdles, 4X100m Relay, Kids (6 and under) little hurdles, 400m, 1500m/Mile, 100m, 800m, 200m, and 3000m. Atascadero High School Choir
COMMUNITY
CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
The Western Drought and the Food Supply
All-Comers Track & Field Event Huge Success By PATRICK PATTON patrick@pasoroblespress.com
knows, they can always use a little work, which is what Schmidt has been doing in preparation to enter the antique in the Dewar Restoration Program. Schmidt says his favorite part of the program was learning to machine his own parts, “I learned how to machine a lot of my own parts as a lot of them weren’t available.” Both boys are planning to enter their tractors in the Delo Tractor Restoration, a national-level competition. For the Dewar program, competitors are judged on three parts: the physical tractor restoration, record book of their hours and finances, and finally, a presentation and interview with judges. This year’s judges were Joe McKee, Faron Bento, and Quentin Thompson.
CALIFORNIA
Competitors of all ages participated in a range of track & field events. Photo by Patrick Patton
Atascadero Greyhound and Lighthouse Foundation strive to develop wholesome kids
mechanical and rebuilding techniques. He got his tractor from Isaac Lindsey, a former THS student and Dewar tractor restoration program contestant. Brennan says, “I want to thank all my mentors. I appreciate all their help, and there’s so many I can’t name them all—I want to say thank you so much to all the people who have guided me through the process and who have helped with donations.” Schmidt will be a Sophomore at THS later this year. He restored a 1940 Allis-Chalmers B that he has been working on since he was ten years old. The worn-out tractor was sitting under a neighbors tree when Schmidt decided to take on the project and rebuild the engine. Since then, Schmidt has been taking the tractor to various shows. As anyone who ever owned a tractor before
director Carrie Jones opened up the first and last nights’ events with the singing of the National Anthem. According to AGF Executive Director Donn Clickard, the number of families who attended was the most of any year to date. Clickard also stated that there was a significant jump in enthusiasm due to the cancelation of several events over the past year and a half because of the COVID-19 restrictions. “The energy level is through the roof, and our numbers reflect it too!” said Rolfe Nelson, AGF Treasurer, and Board member. Like so many other events, the All-Comers Track & Field meet was canceled last year in response to COVID-19 concerns. “I think it was the right thing to do for the safety of our CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
COVID-19 UPDATE
How it’s affecting farmers, and how it will affect the nation By CAMILLE DeVAUL camille@pasoroblespress.com
CALIFORNIA — If you have driven through the California Valley, you’ve likely seen a sign that read “No Water = No Food.” These signs are remnants from the State’s previous droughts and never taken down because of how likely another waterless year will be. And here we are. California is facing yet another drought. According to the California Farm Water Coalition (CFWC), 2021 is on track to being critically dry—the same as the State’s last drought, which lasted from about 2014-2016. What’s worse is, as of Jun. 2, over 2 million acres—more than one-quarter of Californian irrigated farmland—is receiving 5 percent or less of its water supply. More than half of that is getting no water allocation at all. In other areas of California, farms have reportedly had their
SUPERIOR COURT
water supplies cut by 25 percent or more, and 60,000 acres in Northern California will receive zero water this year. Founded in 1989, the CFWC is a non-profit, educational organization that provides fact-based information on farm water issues to the public. “We’re all about helping people understand the connection between farm water and their food supply,” said Mike Wade, executive director at CFWC. Due to lack of water, farmers across the State have had to face the crucial decision to reduce their planted acres. And some farmers were given no choice but to plow under their crop—because the California Water Board (CWB) cut off their water supply by suspending the farmer’s water rights. Farmers on the Russian River and the Sacramento-San Juaquin watershed have already had their junior water rights suspended by the CWB. “We’ve seen dozens of crops that are having reduced plantings this year. Farmers are fallowing fields of annual crops,” said Wade.
Due to lack of water, farmers across the State have had to face the crucial decision to reduce their planted acres. Contributed photo
He continued, “What that does is it doesn’t just affect the farmer, as important as that is. It affects communities. It affects people who depend on those farms for jobs. It affects related businesses, particularly transportation and processing all the way down the food chain to the grocery store where we see reduced supply and higher prices for consumers.” The last driest year California saw was in 2015. According to drought.gov, “drought impacts to California’s agricultural sector resulted in $1.84 billion in direct CONTINUED ON PAGE A15
WEATHER
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